WEMBLEY STADIUM

London, England

The original Wembley Stadium, known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007.

The first event held at the stadium was the FA Cup final on 28 April 1923 between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United. This is known as the White Horse Final.

The 1953 FA Cup Final between Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers was dubbed the "Matthews Final" after winger Stanley Matthews. At 38, this was likely to be Matthews' third and final chance to earn an FA Cup winner's medal. In the previous six years, he failed to earn a winner's medal against Manchester United in 1948 and Newcastle United in 1951. It featured a hat-trick by Blackpool's Stan Mortensen in his side's 4–3 win. It remained the only hat-trick ever scored in an FA Cup Final at the original Wembley.

In all, the stadium hosted five European Cup finals, including the 1963 final between AC Milan and Benfica, and the 1968 final between Manchester United and Benfica. In 1971 it again hosted the final, between Ajax and Panathinaikos, and once more in 1978, this time between Liverpool and Club Brugge. The last such occasion was in 1992, when Barcelona played Sampdoria. The FA unsuccessfully bid for the redeveloped Wembley to host the 2007 final. Wembley has also hosted two UEFA Cup Winners' Cup finals (in 1965, when West Ham United beat 1860 Munich, and 1993).

Unused 4" x 6" continental size chrome

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