Empire Stadium (Wembley Stadium)
With its famous Twin Towers, the stadium provided a fitting main venue for the Games, which helped cement its already iconic status in British and world sport.
The venue for the FA Cup final – the showpiece match of the English football season – and for the League Cup final, Wembley is one of the world’s most famous stadiums. It is the home of England’s national football team and staged the 1966 World Cup final, the finals of the 1996 and 2020 UEFA EURO competitions, and the finals of the women’s and men’s Olympic football tournaments at London 2012.
The stadium has on occasion provided a temporary home for London football clubs Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, and has been used for several other sports over the years, including rugby league, rugby union, American football, speedway, greyhound racing, boxing, baseball and show jumping. It is also a celebrated concert venue, and was the setting for the 1985 Live Aid charity concert. It hosts corporate events and offers guided tours for visitors. Approximately 100,000 people take the Wembley tour every year.
Built for the British Empire Exhibition of 1924/25, the stadium hosted its first FA Cup final in 1923. One of the two physical remnants of the 1948 Olympic Games is Olympic Way, also known (incorrectly) as Wembley Way. A half-mile approach to the stadium leading from the nearest London Underground station, it was built for the Games and channels spectators in their thousands to the stadium’s gates. The other remnant is the Olympic Roll of Honour – two large plaques commemorating the gold medallists at the 1948 Olympic Games which were set in the walls on either side of the Royal Tunnel. The plaques were removed and kept safe when the stadium was demolished in 2003, and returned to Wembley in time for the 2012 Olympic Games. They are now on show in the stadium concourse.
The old stadium’s most distinctive features were its iconic 38-metre-high towers, which were made listed buildings in 1976. Dubbed the “Twin Towers”, they were knocked down when the stadium was demolished. The new Wembley Stadium is spanned by a 315-metre arch that is 133 metres tall at its highest point.