Editing Wembley Stadium (1923) (section)

==Football==
Wembley is best known for hosting football matches, having hosted the [[FA Cup Final]] annually as well as numerous England International fixtures.

===White Horse Final===
{{main|1923 FA Cup final}}
[[File:Whitehorsefinal.jpg|thumb|''Billy'' the White Horse, saviour of the [[1923 FA Cup final]]]]

[[File:White Horse Final1923.jpg|right|thumb|Crowds at the edges of the pitch]]
The Empire Stadium was built in exactly 300 days at the cost of £750,000. Described as the world's greatest sporting arena, it was ready only four days before the "White Horse" final in 1923. The FA had not considered admission by ticket, grossly underestimating the number of fans who arrived at the 104 gates on match day. However, after this match, every event apart from the [[1982 FA Cup final|1982]] replay<ref>{{cite book |last= Collett |first= Mike |title= The Complete Record of The FA Cup |year= 2003 |isbn= 1-899807-19-5 |page=35|publisher= SportsBooks Limited }}</ref> was ticketed.

The first event held at the stadium was the [[1923 FA Cup final]] on 28 April between [[Bolton Wanderers F.C.|Bolton Wanderers]] and [[West Ham United F.C.|West Ham United]].<ref>{{cite news |title=London's football history: Wembley Stadium |url=https://www.fifa.com/the-best-fifa-football-awards/news/london-s-football-history-wembley-stadium-2903938 |access-date=6 December 2020 |agency=FIFA.com}}{{dead link|date=October 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> This is known as the [[1923 FA Cup final|White Horse Final]]. Such was the eagerness to attend the final at the new [[national stadium]] that vast numbers of people crammed through the 104 [[turnstile]]s into the stadium, far exceeding its official 127,000 capacity. The crowds overflowed onto the pitch as there was no room on the terraces. Estimates of the number of fans in attendance range from 240,000<ref>{{cite book | last1=Bateson|first1=Bill|first2=Albert |last2=Sewell  | title=News of the World Football Annual 1992/93| publisher=Harper Collins | year=1992| isbn=0-85543-188-1}}</ref> to well over 300,000.<ref>{{cite book |last= Matthews|first= Tony|title= Football Firsts|year= 2006|publisher= Capella|isbn= 1-84193-451-8}}</ref>

It was thought that the match would not be played because of the number of spectators inside the stadium that had spilled onto the pitch, until mounted police, including Police Constable [[George Scorey]] and his white horse, ''Billy'', slowly pushed the crowds back to the sides of the field of play to allow the match to kick off just 45 minutes late. In honour of Billy, the footbridge outside the new Wembley Stadium has been named the [[White Horse Bridge]]. The official attendance is often quoted as 126,047. The match saw a 2–0 victory for Bolton Wanderers, with [[David Jack (footballer)|David Jack]] scoring the first ever goal at Wembley.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/in_depth/2000/wembley/943404.stm |title=Bolton clinch the Cup |work=BBC Sport |access-date=14 October 2008 |date=1 October 2000}}</ref>

===Matthews Final===
{{main|1953 FA Cup final}}
The [[1953 FA Cup final]] between [[Blackpool F.C.|Blackpool]] and [[Bolton Wanderers F.C.|Bolton Wanderers]] was dubbed the "Matthews final" after Blackpool's winger [[Stanley Matthews]]. At age 38, he was making his third and ultimately his final attempt at winning an FA Cup medal.<ref name="Matthews">{{cite news |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/654500.stm|work= [[BBC News]]
|title= The Matthews Final |access-date= 20 July 2009 | date=24 February 2000}}</ref> In the previous six years, he failed to earn a winner's medal against [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]] in [[1948 FA Cup final|1948]] and [[Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United]] in [[1951 FA Cup final|1951]].<ref name="Matthews"/> It featured a [[Hat-trick#Association football|hat-trick]] by Blackpool's [[Stan Mortensen]] in his side's 4–3 win, with Matthews almost single-handedly turning the match around for Blackpool, who had trailed 3–1 to [[Bolton Wanderers F.C.|Bolton Wanderers]] before fighting back to win the match. It remained the only hat-trick ever scored in an FA Cup Final at the original Wembley.

The FA Cup final was played there in April or May until 2000 (excluding the 1970 replay when [[Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea]] beat [[Leeds United F.C.|Leeds United]] at [[Old Trafford]]). It was also the venue for finals of the [[FA Amateur Cup]], [[EFL Cup|League Cup]] (except for the early years when this was settled on a home and away basis) and in later years the [[Associate Members' Cup]] and the [[English Football League|Football League]] promotion [[English Football League play-offs|play-off finals]] (in the early years of play-offs they were home and away fixtures). The 1988 final of the [[Middlesex Senior Charity Cup|Middlesex Charity Cup]] was also played there.<ref>{{cite news | last =Francis | first =Tony | title =Future returns to the past | work = [[The Daily Telegraph]]| date =22 August 2005 | url =https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2364126/Future-returns-to-the-past.html | access-date = 14 January 2010 }}</ref>

===International fixtures===
[[File:Scoreboard end in the old Wembley Stadium.jpg|left|thumb|[[England national football team|England]] v [[Scotland national football team|Scotland]] in 1981]]
Prior to the 1923 Wembley stadium, international football games had been played by [[England national football team|England]] at various stadia. Most early internationals (including [[England v Scotland (1870)|the first ever international football match]] (1870)) were played at [[The Oval]], which opened in 1845 as the home ground of [[Surrey County Cricket Club]] and would in 1880 host the first [[Test cricket|Test match]] played in England. For the first 27 years, the only International England games played at Wembley were fixtures against Scotland, with other games played elsewhere until 1951. The first team other than Scotland to face England at the venue was Argentina.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamWembley/History.html|title=Wembley Stadium – History|website=www.englandfootballonline.com}}</ref> In 1956 and 1971, it was the venue of the home matches of the Great Britain national football team for the qualification matches to the [[Summer Olympic Games]] against [[Bulgaria at the Olympics|Bulgaria]].<ref>{{cite web | last =Barker | first =Philip | title =Wembley Stadium – An Olympic Chronology 1923–2003 | work =Journal of Olympic History | publisher =[[LA84 Foundation]] | date =June 2003 | url =http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JOH/JOHv11n2/johv11n2i.pdf | format =[[Portable Document Format|PDF format]] | access-date =14 January 2010 | archive-date =17 July 2012 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20120717121540/http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JOH/JOHv11n2/johv11n2i.pdf | url-status =dead }}</ref>

In 1966, it was the leading venue of the [[1966 FIFA World Cup|FIFA World Cup]]. It hosted nine matches, including the [[1966 FIFA World Cup final|final]], where tournament hosts England won 4–2 after extra time against [[Germany national football team|West Germany]].<ref>[https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/mens/worldcup/1966england "Hurst the hero for England in the home of football"]. FIFA. Retrieved 11 November 2014</ref> Seven years later, Wembley was the venue for a specially arranged friendly between teams called "The Three" and "The Six" to celebrate the [[United Kingdom]] joining the [[European Economic Community]]. The match finished 2–0 to "The Three".

In 1996, it was the principal venue of [[UEFA Euro 1996]], hosting all of England's matches, as well as the tournament's final, where Germany won the [[UEFA European Championship]] for a third time after defeating the [[Czech Republic national football team|Czech Republic]] 2–1 with the first international [[golden goal]] in football history. Germany had earlier defeated England on penalties in the semi-final after a 1–1 draw, with [[Gareth Southgate]] having his penalty saved against England in the shoot-out.

England's final two competitive matches played at the stadium resulted in 0–1 defeats for England to Scotland and Germany respectively. The first defeat was in the play off for the [[UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying|Euro 2000 qualifiers]] in November 1999, but England still went through as they won the other leg 2–0 at [[Hampden Park]]. However, the final match at Wembley was the opening [[2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)|qualifier]] for the [[2002 FIFA World Cup|2002 World Cup]], and defeat prompted the resignation of England manager [[Kevin Keegan]] at the end of the match after 18 months in charge.

====[[1966 World Cup]]====
{{main|1966 FIFA World Cup}}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left; width:70%;"
|-
!Date
!Time<br>([[British Summer Time|BST]])
!Team #1
!Score
!Team #2
!Round
!Attendance
|-
|11 July 1966||19:30||{{fb|ENG}} ||style="text-align:center;"|0–0||{{fb|URU}} || rowspan="5" |[[1966 FIFA World Cup Group 1|Group 1]]||style="text-align:center;"|87,148
|-
|13 July 1966||19:30||{{fb|FRA|1958}} ||style="text-align:center;"|1–1|||{{fb|MEX|1934}} ||style="text-align:center;"|69,237
|-
|16 July 1966||19:30||{{fb|ENG}} ||style="text-align:center;"|2–0||{{fb|MEX|1934}} ||style="text-align:center;" |92,570
|-
|19 July 1966||16:30||{{fb|MEX|1934}} ||style="text-align:center;"|0–0||{{fb|URU}} || style="text-align:center;" |61,112
|-
|20 July 1966||19:30||{{fb|ENG}} ||style="text-align:center;"|2–0||{{fb|FRA|1958}} || style="text-align:center;" |98,370
|-
|23 July 1966||15:00||{{fb|ENG}} ||style="text-align:center;"|1–0||{{fb|ARG}} ||[[1966 FIFA World Cup#Knockout stage|Quarter-finals]]||style="text-align:center;"|90,584
|-
|25 July 1966||19:30||{{fb|ENG}} ||style="text-align:center;"|2–1||{{fb|POR}} ||[[1966 FIFA World Cup#Knockout stage|Semi-finals]]||style="text-align:center;"|94,493
|-
|28 July 1966||19:30||{{fb|POR}} ||style="text-align:center;"|2–1||{{fb|URS|1955}} ||[[1966 FIFA World Cup#Knockout stage|3rd place match]]||style="text-align:center;"|87,696
|-
|30 July 1966||15:00||{{fb|ENG}} ||style="text-align:center;"|4–2 {{aet}}||{{fb|FRG}} ||[[1966 FIFA World Cup final|Final]]||style="text-align:center;"|96,924
|}

====Euro 1996====
{{main|UEFA Euro 1996}}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left; width:70%;"
|-
!Date
!Time<br>([[British Summer Time|BST]])
!Team #1
!Score
!Team #2
!Round
!Attendance
|-
|8 June 1996||15:00||{{fb|ENG}} ||style="text-align:center;"|1–1||{{fb|SWI}} || rowspan="3" |[[UEFA Euro 1996 Group A|Group A]]||style="text-align:center;"|76,567
|-
|15 June 1996||15:00||{{fb|SCO}} ||style="text-align:center;"|0–2|||{{fb|ENG}} ||style="text-align:center;"|76,864
|-
|18 June 1996||19:30||{{fb|NED}} ||style="text-align:center;"|1–4||{{fb|ENG}} ||style="text-align:center;" |76,798
|-
|22 June 1996||15:00||{{fb|ESP}} ||style="text-align:center;"|0–0 {{aet}}<br/>(2–4 [[Penalty shoot-out (association football)|pen.]])||{{fb|ENG}} ||[[UEFA Euro 1996 knockout stage#Quarter-finals|Quarter-finals]] || style="text-align:center;" |75,440
|-
|26 June 1996||19:30||{{fb|GER}} ||style="text-align:center;"|1–1 {{aet}}<br/>(6–5 [[Penalty shoot-out (association football)|pen.]])||{{fb|ENG}} ||[[UEFA Euro 1996 knockout stage#Semi-finals|Semi-finals]]||style="text-align:center;"|75,862
|-
|30 June 1996||19:00||{{fb|CZE}} ||style="text-align:center;"|1–2 {{aet}}||{{fb|GER}} ||[[UEFA Euro 1996 Final|Final]]||style="text-align:center;"|73,611
|}

===Club football===
[[File:Bristol Rovers v Tranmere Rovers, Wembley 1990 (344523653).jpg|thumb|right|[[Tranmere Rovers F.C.|Tranmere Rovers]] defeated [[Bristol Rovers F.C.|Bristol Rovers]] in the [[1990 Associate Members' Cup final]]]]
In all, the stadium hosted five [[UEFA Champions League|European Cup]] finals, a record for the continent's top football tournament until the inauguration of the new [[Wembley Stadium]] in 2007. The first two were [[1963 European Cup final|1963]] final between [[AC Milan|Milan]] and [[S.L. Benfica|Benfica]], and the [[1968 European Cup final|1968]] final between Manchester United and Benfica. In [[1971 European Cup final|1971]], it again hosted the final, between [[AFC Ajax|Ajax]] and [[Panathinaikos F.C.|Panathinaikos]], and once more in [[1978 European Cup final|1978]], this time between [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]] and [[Club Brugge KV|Club Brugge]], another in [[1992 European Cup final|1992]], when [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]] played [[UC Sampdoria|Sampdoria]].

Wembley also hosted two [[UEFA Cup Winners' Cup|European Cup Winners' Cup]] [[List of UEFA Cup Winners' Cup finals|finals]]: in [[1965 European Cup Winners' Cup final|1965]], when [[West Ham United F.C.|West Ham United]] defeated [[TSV 1860 Munich|1860 Munich]], and in [[1993 European Cup Winners' Cup final|1993]], when [[Parma Calcio 1913|Parma]] defeated [[Royal Antwerp F.C.|Royal Antwerp]].

It was also the venue for [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]]'s home Champions League matches in [[1998–99 UEFA Champions League|1998–99]] and [[1999–2000 UEFA Champions League|1999–2000]]. It has hosted clubs' home matches on two other occasions; in 1930, when [[Leyton Orient F.C.|Leyton Orient]] played two home [[Football League Third Division South|Third Division South]] matches while their [[Lea Bridge Stadium]] was undergoing urgent remedial works;<ref>{{cite book |last=Inglis |first=Simon | author-link = Simon Inglis |title=The Football Grounds of England and Wales |publisher=Willow Books |location=London |year=1984 |page=236}}</ref> and in 1930–31 for eight matches by [[Non-League football|non-League]] Ealing A.F.C.<ref name="Denied">{{cite book |last=Twydell |first=Dave |title= Denied F.C. – The Football League Election Struggles|publisher=Yore Publications |location=Harefield |year=2001 |isbn= 978-1-874427-98-8|page=31}}</ref> It was also to be the home of the [[Amateur sports|amateur]] club which made several applications to join [[English Football League|the Football League]], the [[Argonauts F.C.|Argonauts]].<ref name="Denied"/>

In March 1998, Arsenal made a bid to purchase Wembley in the hope of gaining a larger stadium to replace their [[Arsenal Stadium|Highbury ground]], which had a capacity of less than 40,000 and was unsuitable for expansion. However, the bid was later abandoned in favour of building the 60,000 capacity [[Emirates Stadium]], which was opened in 2006.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hodgson|first1= Guy |last2=Yates |first2=Andrew | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-fa-infuriated-by-arsenals-bid-for-wembley-1150008.html | work= [[The Independent]] | title=Football: FA Infuriated by Arsenal's Bid for Wembley | date=13 March 1998 | access-date = 15 August 2012}}</ref>

===Last matches===
On 20 May 2000, the [[2000 FA Cup final|last FA Cup final to be played at the old Wembley]] saw Chelsea defeat [[Aston Villa F.C.|Aston Villa]] with the only goal scored by [[Roberto Di Matteo]].<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100328124942/http://www.facupfootball.co.uk/fa-cup-2000.html FA Cup 2000]}} facupfootball.co.uk</ref> The final competitive club match there was the [[2000 Football League First Division play-off Final|2000 First Division play-off final]] on 29 May, between [[Ipswich Town F.C.|Ipswich Town]] and [[Barnsley F.C.|Barnsley]], a 4–2 win resulting in promotion to the Premier League for Ipswich.<ref>[[Matt Scott (sports journalist)|Scott, Matt]] (9 May 2005).  [https://www.theguardian.com/football/2005/may/10/newsstory.ipswichtown1 "Ipswich Bank on Better Luck in the Annual Lottery{{spaced ndash}} Suffolk Club Grow Used to End-of Season Suffering"].  ''[[The Guardian]]''.  Retrieved 15 August 2012.</ref>

The last club match of all was the [[2000 FA Charity Shield|2000 Charity Shield]], in which Chelsea defeated Manchester United 2–0. The last international match was on 7 October,<ref name=afconerg>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oExWAAAAIBAJ&pg=4801%2C1925120 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon, U.S.) |agency=Associated Press |title=A fitting conclusion for soccer shrine |date=7 October 2000 |page=3D}}</ref> in Kevin Keegan's [[2000 England v Germany football match|last game as England manager]]. England were defeated 0–1 by Germany, with [[Dietmar Hamann]] scoring the last goal at the original Wembley.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/may/29/golden-goal-dietmar-hamann-for-germany-v-england-2000|title= Golden Goal: Dietmar Hamann for Germany v England (2000)|date=29 May 2020|work=Guardian|access-date= 12 March 2021}}</ref>
On that day, [[Tony Adams (footballer)|Tony Adams]] made his 60th Wembley appearance, a record for any player.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/4773152/Player-profile-Tony-Adams.html "Player profile: Tony Adams"]. ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''.</ref> Adams also claimed England's final goal at the stadium, having scored in the previous home fixture against [[Ukraine national football team|Ukraine]] on 31 May.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/england/6271757/England-v-Ukraine-previous-meeting.html "England v Ukraine: previous meetings"]. ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''.</ref>