Wembley Stadium re-opened this year. It's now an impressive 90,000- seater venue
W is for Wembley
Sunday, 22 July 2007.
It's England's home and the 'Home of Football', so as we near the end of our A to Z, the letter W is for Wembley.
Now reopened after a magnificent multi-million-pound facelift, Wembley is the stadium with the second biggest capacity in Europe, holding 90,000.
First opened as the Empire Stadium in 1923, it hosted the 'White Horse' FA Cup Final that year. The capacity at the time was 127,000, making it the largest stadium in the world.
England played their first match there in 1924 in a 1-1 draw with the 'Auld Enemy' Scotland.
Before 1951, England had only faced Scotland at the national stadium but, in May of that year, Argentina became the first foreign side to play a full international under the Twin Towers.
Wembley was the venue for the Three Lions' finest hour when they won the World Cup in 1966 thanks to Geoff Hurst's hat-trick and a Martin Peters goal in the 4-2 extra-time defeat of West Germany.
After a defeat by Scotland in 1977, the visiting Tartan Army of fans invaded the pitch, infamously breaking the goalposts.
Another of Wembley's most memorable moments came when Paul Gascoigne scored his wonder goal against the Scots at Euro '96.
The last match to be played at the old Wembley was against Germany in 2000, when England lost thanks to a goal from Dietmar Hamann and Kevin Keegan resigned as manager.
The keys to the new Wembley were handed over to the FA in March. The Twin Towers had been replaced with a huge arch that dominates the skyline. An Under-21 game between England and Italy was the curtain-raiser at the revamped stadium.
Brazil provided the first opposition to England at the new Wembley at senior level, playing out a 1-1 draw in front of a capacity crowd. Captain John Terry notched the first goal for England in their new home.