Wembley Stadium· built byUuser-e8a0f3

Wembley Stadium 33

• 1923 Wembley Stadium opens London, England The Empire Stadium, built in 300 days for the British Empire Exhibition and opened with the White Horse Final, watched by a crowd estimated at over 200,000. Its twin towers became the most recognisable landmark in world football.
• 1924 The British Empire Exhibition London, England The stadium's original purpose. Twenty-seven million people visited the exhibition over two years, and the building was scheduled for demolition when it closed.
• 1927 Abide with Me is sung before the final London, England The hymn was introduced to the FA Cup final at the suggestion of the FA secretary and has been sung at Wembley almost every year since, one of the oldest rituals in English sport.
• 1934 The first floodlights London, England Lights were installed for greyhound racing and speedway, which paid Wembley's bills far more reliably than football did between the wars.
• 1946 Football returns after the war London, England The first post-war FA Cup final, Derby County against Charlton, drew 98,000 to a stadium that had spent the war years hosting fundraising matches.
• 1948 The Austerity Olympics London, England London hosted the first Games since 1936 with no new construction, no athletes' village and rationing still in force. Wembley was the main stadium.
• 1953 The Match of the Century London, England Hungary beat England 6–3, the first defeat by a continental side at Wembley. It ended the belief that English football had nothing to learn from abroad.
• 1953 The Matthews Final London, England Blackpool came from 3–1 down to beat Bolton 4–3, with Stanley Matthews finally winning an FA Cup at 38. One of the first sporting events watched by a mass television audience in Britain.
• 1963 European Cup final London, England Milan beat Benfica 2–1, becoming the first Italian club to win the trophy.
• 1966 England win the World Cup London, England England beat West Germany 4–2 after extra time, with Geoff Hurst scoring the only hat-trick in a World Cup final and a third goal still disputed today.
• 1966 Rugby league and the Challenge Cup London, England Wembley had by then long been the home of the Challenge Cup final, giving northern rugby league its one annual day in the capital.
• 1968 Manchester United win the European Cup London, England United beat Benfica 4–1 after extra time, ten years after Munich, becoming the first English club to win the trophy.
• 1971 Ajax win the first of three European Cups London, England Ajax beat Panathinaikos 2–0, starting the run that made Total Football the dominant idea in the European game.
• 1973 England fail to reach the World Cup London, England A 1–1 draw with Poland, in which the goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski defied everything England threw at him, kept the 1966 winners out of the 1974 finals.
• 1978 Liverpool retain the European Cup London, England Liverpool beat Club Brugge 1–0, the second of the four European Cups they would win in seven years.
• 1985 Live Aid London, England The London half of the global famine relief concert, watched by an estimated 1.5 billion people across 100 countries.
• 1988 The Mandela birthday concert London, England A tribute concert for the imprisoned Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday was broadcast to 67 countries, and is often credited with pushing anti-apartheid politics into the mainstream.
• 1991 The first FA Cup semi-final at Wembley London, England Tottenham beat Arsenal in the first semi-final staged at the national stadium rather than a neutral club ground, a decision still argued about today.
• 1992 European Cup final London, England Barcelona beat Sampdoria 1–0 for their first European Cup, with a Ronald Koeman free kick in extra time.
• 1996 Euro 96 final London, England Germany beat the Czech Republic with the first golden goal in a major tournament final, three weeks after England had gone out on penalties on the same pitch.
• 1996 Football comes home London, England Euro 96 filled Wembley for eight matches, with England's semi-final penalty defeat to Germany watched by 26 million people in Britain.
• 1999 The last FA Cup final at the old ground London, England Manchester United beat Newcastle 2–0 on the way to the treble, in what turned out to be the old stadium's final showpiece.
• 2000 The last match at the old stadium London, England England lost 1–0 to Germany in a World Cup qualifier. Kevin Keegan resigned in the dressing room immediately afterwards.
• 2003 Wembley Stadium demolished London, England The twin towers came down in February 2003, three years after the last match at the old ground. Their demolition was broadcast live and prompted a national argument about whether they should have been preserved.
• 2007 Wembley Stadium reopens London, England The rebuilt national stadium, designed by Foster and Populous, with a 133-metre arch replacing the twin towers and 90,000 seats — the largest in the UK. It cost £798 million and opened four years late.
• 2011 Champions League final London, England Barcelona beat Manchester United 3–1 in a performance widely regarded as the peak of the Guardiola side.
• 2013 Champions League final London, England Bayern Munich beat Borussia Dortmund 1–0 in the first all-German final, the second staged at the new Wembley in three years.
• 2013 The FA's 150th anniversary London, England Wembley marked a century and a half of the Football Association, founded in a London pub in 1863.
• 2017 Tottenham move in for two seasons London, England Spurs played their home matches at Wembley while their own stadium was built, regularly drawing crowds above 80,000.
• 2020 An empty FA Cup final London, England Arsenal beat Chelsea in a 90,000-seat stadium containing a few hundred people, the first FA Cup final played behind closed doors.
• 2021 Euro 2020 final London, England Italy beat England on penalties in a delayed tournament. Hundreds of ticketless supporters forced entry before kickoff, and the resulting inquiry criticised the security operation severely.
• 2022 England win the Women's Euros London, England England beat Germany 2–1 after extra time in front of 87,192, the largest crowd ever to attend a European Championship final, men's or women's.
• 2024 Champions League final London, England Real Madrid beat Borussia Dortmund 2–0 for a fifteenth European title, on a pitch relaid specially for the occasion.