Venue Info

• Wembley Stadium, London

• The Empire Stadium was opened in 1923 for the British Empire Exhibition of 1924-5 and held its first England match in April of that year against Scotland. In fact, it was only used by the FA to accommodate the vast numbers that attended the biennial England/Scotland fixture until Argentina’s visit in April 1951. With exceptions of Goodison Park (1953, 1966 & 1973), Molineux (1956), Villa Park (1958), Highbury (1961), Hillsborough (1962), Elland Road (1995), Old Trafford (1997) and Stadium of Light (1999); Wembley was exclusively used for all of England’s home internationals for 49 years until its final match against Germany in 2000. It was closed soon after and demolished in 2003 to make way for the new Wembley Stadium which opened in March 2007. England’s first game at the new Wembley was in June of that year - a 1-1 draw with Brazil.

  The original stadium hosted the 1948 Summer Olympics, the World Cup Final 1966, the Euro ‘96 final, the annual FA Cup and League Cup finals, the Rugby League Challenge Cup final since 1929, speedway until 1956, greyhound racing until 1998, American football, Gaelic football, 1963’s Henry Cooper v Muhammad Ali heavyweight boxing match, and in 1975, 90,000 spectators witnessed Evel Knievel break his pelvis attempting to jump 13 London Buses.

  Its successor has continued hosting the domestic finals, the 2012 Olympic football tournament, the Euro 2020 final whilst continuing to be the home of England International football.