Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium (sometimes referred to as The New Wembley and branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which had stood from 1923 until 2003. The stadium is England's national football stadium, and thus hosts the majority of the England national team home matches and the FA Cup Final – the final of England's primary domestic club football competition. It is widely regarded as one of the most iconic football stadiums in the world, and is considered a hub for the English game. Wembley Stadium is owned by the governing body of English football, the Football Association, whose headquarters are in the stadium, through its subsidiary Wembley National Stadium Ltd (WNSL). With 90,000 seats, it is the largest stadium in the UK and the second-largest stadium in Europe, behind Barcelona's Camp Nou. Designed by Populous and Foster and Partners, the stadium is crowned by the 134-metre-high (440 ft) Wembley Arch which serves aesthetically as a landmark across London as well as structurally, with the arch supporting over 75% of the entire roof load. The stadium was built by Australian firm Multiplex at a cost of £798 million (£1.51 billion today). Two partially retractable roof structures over the east and west ends of the stadium can be opened to allow sunlight and aid pitch growth. In addition to England home games and the FA Cup final, the stadium also hosts other major games in English football, including the season-opening FA Community Shield, the finals of lower tiered cup competition – the FA Trophy, the FA Vase, finals of the EFL Cup and EFL Trophy, the FA Cup semi-finals, and the promotion play-off finals of the tiers two, three, four, and five of the English football league system. The stadium also hosts the Women's FA Cup finals and an increasing number of home games of the England women's national football team. A UEFA category four stadium, Wembley hosted the 2011, 2013 and the 2024 Champions League Finals, eight games at UEFA Euro 2020 (including the final and both of the semi-finals), and hosted the final of the UEFA Women's Euro 2022. The stadium hosted the gold-medal matches at the 2012 Olympic Games football tournament. The stadium also hosts the Rugby Football League's Challenge Cup, Women's Challenge Cup, and 1895 Cup finals, in addition to various music concerts. The stadium also hosted NFL London Games until 2019 and was also the temporary home of Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur between August 2017 and March 2019, while White Hart Lane was being demolished and their new stadium was constructed. Wembley has also been chosen as one of the host stadia for UEFA Euro 2028. In 2014, Wembley Stadium entered into a six-year sponsorship agreement with mobile provider EE Limited, under which it provides technology and infrastructure services for the venue. Under the agreement, the facility is officially referred to as "Wembley Stadium connected by EE". The deal was renewed in 2019 for a further 5 years, as part of EE's parent company BT's sponsorship deal with the England football team.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Wembley Stadium", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.