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Wembley Stadium in London is the current exclusive home stadium for the England national football team. This has been the case since it was opened in 2007, following on from the old Wembley Stadium it replaced. England have however also played many of their home games away from Wembley throughout their history, both in friendly matches and for competitive tournaments.
The England team played their first official home match on 8 March 1873 (their second official international). During this period, England used various grounds around the country, including many cricket grounds, as their home venue. Surrey County Cricket Club's ground The Oval in south London was the first and most used venue of this time, following on from its use for the England v Scotland representative matches played between 1870 and 1872.
England played its first game at Wembley's Empire Stadium the following year in 1924, although Wembley was then only used for games against Scotland until May 1951, when England played Argentina. Wembley was then used increasingly for the next half-century, meaning just 10 home games were played outside of the Empire Stadium in the period after 1951 until 1999.
The next series of non-Wembley home games, 34 in all, took place between 2001 and 2007, in the period between the closing of the Empire Stadium and the opening of the new Wembley Stadium, due to it being built on the same site. When the Empire Stadium closed in October 2000, the national team went "on tour". [1] The stadium was not demolished until 2003, and the new stadium was not completed until 2007, well behind schedule. Manchester United's home stadium Old Trafford was the most used ground during the tour period.
The tour programme saw the England team return to several cities, for the first time in over 50 years. While the tour was considered a success, the cost of the stadium meant The Football Association had no plans to stage home games away from Wembley after 2007. [1]
The first England game at the new Wembley Stadium was on 1 June 2007, against Brazil. [1]
In the build-up to Euro 2016, England played two games away from Wembley for the first time since Wembley's opening. [2] They played against Turkey at Etihad Stadium, Manchester and against Australia at Stadium of Light, Sunderland.
Not included is the Northern Ireland game in 1973 at Goodison Park as Northern Ireland were the intended home team; the match was moved from Belfast to Liverpool due to ongoing civil unrest. [3] [4]
The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affiliated with UEFA and comes under the global jurisdiction of world football's governing body FIFA. England competes in the three major international tournament contested by European nations: the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA European Championship and the UEFA Nations League.
The original Wembley Stadium was a football stadium in Wembley, London, best known for hosting important football matches. It stood on the same site now occupied by its successor.
Croke Park is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). Since 1891 the site has been used by the GAA to host Gaelic sports, including the annual All-Ireland in Gaelic football and hurling.
The Northern Ireland men's national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1950, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association (IFA). In 1921, the jurisdiction of the IFA was reduced to Northern Ireland following the secession of clubs in the soon-to-be Irish Free State, although its team remained the national team for all of Ireland until 1950, and used the name Ireland until the 1970s. The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) organises the separate Republic of Ireland national football team.
The Republic of Ireland men's national football team represents the Republic of Ireland in men's international football. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI).
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The British Home Championship was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams: England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Beginning during the 1883–84 season, it is the oldest international association football tournament in the world and it was contested until the 1983–84 season, when it was abolished after 100 years.
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Wembley Stadium is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium hosts major football matches including home matches of the England national football team, and the FA Cup Final. 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.
Sport in England plays a prominent role in English society. Popular teams sports in England include field hockey, cricket, rugby union, rugby league, and netball. Major individual sports include badminton, athletics, tennis, boxing, golf, cycling, motorsport, and horseracing. Cricket is regarded as the national summer sport. Association football is the most popular sport, followed by Cricket, Tennis and Rugby. A number of modern sports were codified in England during the nineteenth century, among them cricket, rugby union, rugby league, football, field hockey, bandy, squash, tennis, and badminton. The game of baseball was first described in 18th century England.
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