Wembley is one of the most iconic stadiums in football, and it is set to host another final when Liverpool take on Chelsea in the EFL Cup.
Wembley, Wembley, we’re the famous [insert team name here] and we’re off to Wembley! The famous chant comes from the stands when a team in England gets past the semi-final stage of a domestic cup competition, and signifies a trip to the capital for a chance at silverware.
But why Wembley? It’s a good question: Spain, one of football’s most successful countries, doesn’t have a national stadium. Finals are played wherever fits, be it Real Madrid’s Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Valencia’s Mestalla, Atlético Madrid’s Metropolitano or elsewhere. But not in England. Trophies are lifted at Wembley, Europe’s second largest sport stadium, after Camp Nou.
Wembley, the home of the England National Team, was built in 1923 and was used until 2003, before the ‘new’ Wembley was opened in 2007. It holds 90,000 fans and as mentioned, only the (currently closed) Barcelona stadium beats it for capacity in the entire continent. During the period in which Wembley was inactive due to building works, Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium held all domestic finals.
As of today, all finals are played at the ground, including the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup, as well as Playoff finals between teams in the Championship, League One and League Two. It has, in the past, hosted Champions League finals and Euros finals, and will also host this year’s UEFA Champions League final.
Wembley hosts the finals nowadays as that’s how it’s always been in England. The 1923 FA Cup final was the inaugural match of the original stadium and since then, the tradition has continued. The same thing occurred with the League Cup (now known as the
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