Emirates Stadium

Emirates Stadium
	Ashburton Grove
	The east facade of the Emirates Stadium
Data
place	London , UK
Coordinates	51 ° 33 '18 " N , 0 ° 6' 29" W Coordinates: 51 ° 33 '18 " N , 0 ° 6' 29" W.
classification	4th
owner	Arsenal FC
start of building	2004
opening	July 22, 2006
First game	August 19, 2006
surface	Hybrid lawn; (Desso GrassMaster)
costs	£ 430m (approx. € 531m )
architect	HOK Sports (now: Populous)
capacity	60,260 seats
playing area	105 × 68 m
Societies)
	Arsenal FC (since 2006);
Events
	Rugby League World Cup 2021;

The Emirates Stadium is the football stadium of the English first division club Arsenal FC .

The stadium was built in Ashburton Grove in North London ( Holloway ) and opened on July 22, 2006. It has space for 60,260 spectators. Thus, it is after the Old Trafford of Manchester United is the second largest stadium in the Premier League . After Wembley Stadium and Twickenham Stadium , it is the third largest sports stadium in London, in front of the former Olympic Stadium , which today has almost the same capacity.

The arena consists of four roofed spectator tiers, with the lower tier being large and flat and the second tier consisting of just eight rows of seats. This extends into the air space above the first tier. A third lower tier (called the Club Tier ) has boxes in the rear , of which there are a total of 150. The fourth tier is called the upper tier and is designed in a curved shape. This construction gives the impression that the roof is sagging. There are also two video walls installed.

The stadium was designed by HOK Sports (today: Populous), which was previously responsible for the design of the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon , the Olympic Stadium in Sydney and the new Wembley Stadium. It was designed by Sir Robert Mc Alpine. The site is on the grounds of the former Ashburton Grove industrial park, a few hundred meters from the old Highbury Arsenal Stadium .

History of the stadium

The construction of this building was supported with around 160 million euros by the Arab airline Emirates , which used to give financial support to rival Chelsea FC . As announced in October 2004, Emirates is participating in the financing of the project on a long-term basis and will receive the naming rights for 15 years. This amount also includes an eight-year jersey promotion for Emirates starting with the 2006/07 season.

useful information

Many also call the new stadium Ashburton Grove after the place where it is located. This discrepancy between the official and the occasionally mentioned unofficial name also existed in the name of the previous Arsenal FC venue, which was often referred to as Highbury , although it was actually called Arsenal Stadium . Opposing fans jokingly refer to the Emirates as The Library . The term had already established itself at Highbury, as they believe that Arsenal home games are much quieter than other English top division stadiums.

The Emirates Stadium is the most expensive stadium in the English Premier League with a total cost of around 600 million euros.

In order to obtain the license required for the opening, three events had to be held in the stadium without full capacity. First a meeting of investors was initiated, later a public training session for 20,000 selected club members on July 20, 2006. The third event was Dennis Bergkamp's farewell game against his former club Ajax Amsterdam , which took place on July 22, 2006 in front of a crowd of 54,000 spectators took place. The first league game was played on August 19, 2006 against Aston Villa .