Emirates Stadium

During the 1990s, the stadium of Arsenal at Highbury had a capacity of 38,419 that was all seater in 1993. Most of the other important European football clubs had a higher capacity. So Arsenal started looking for a bigger stadium, that was something very difficult.

The club selected an industrial estate at Ashburton Grove, which was just five hundred meters from Highbury . They announced their plan in November 1999 to all the fans. They expected to open it in August 2003. However, they had planning and financial difficulties so they opening date was changed to the summer of 2006. Before beginning to build the project, they had to buy out the existing occupants and to pay for their relocation. Thus, Arsenal spent a lot of money to buy 10 acres (40,000 m²) of a former railway land on Lough Road, to house a new recycling plant.

The construction of the Arsenal´s stadium began in February 2004. At the same time, two bridges over the Northern City Railroad railway line that connected the stadium with Drayton Park were also built These were completed in summer 2004. The stadium was finished on August 2005, and was completed ahead of schedule and on budget. In February 2006, 90% of the club seats were all taken and in June, all the seats were sold.They had a ceremony on 13 March 2006 in the new stadium to install the first seat.

Their Emirates Stadium was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth IIand Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on Thursday October 26, 2006. This was a great day for the Arsenal team.

I think this is one of the best stadiums of the world because It´s big with a good structure, It´s located in a good place, it has excelent sittings and V.I.P.