Stamford Bridge is a football stadium in Fulham, adjacent to the borough of Chelsea in South West London, and is commonly referred to as The Bridge. It is the home stadium of Chelsea FC, with a capacity of 40,853 and it opened in 1877.
Stamford Bridge opened in 1877 as a home for the and was used almost exclusively for athletics until 1904 when the lease was acquired by the Mears brothers, who wanted to stage professional football matches there. Stamford Bridge was built close to Lillie Bridge and was initially offered to Fulham FC, but they turned it down for financial reasons. The Mears brothers decided to found their own football club, Chelsea, and noted architect Archibald Leitch was hired to construct the stadium. Stamford Bridge had an official capacity of around 100,000, making it the second-largest ground in England at a time.
Between 1920 and 1992 Stamford Bridge hosted three FA Cup finals.
The first large change in appearance came in the 1930s when the southern terrace gained a partial covering – later nicknamed the Shed End.
Stamford Bridge in 1933 – Photo: PA
After the war in 1945, the north end of Stamford Bridge gained more covered seatings. Later that year an estimated crowd of over 100,000 watched Chelsea face Dynamo Moscow in an exciting 3-3 friendly.
In 1957 the floodlights have been installed and in 1965, a seated West Stand was built to replace the existing terracing on the west side.
In 1974 the new East Stand opened which brought fans closer to pitch, covering the old dog track.
In the 1990s the rebuilding of Stamford Bridge into the current stadium began with the redevelopment of the North Stand area. The old semi-circular terrace was demolished and a new, two-tier stand was opened at that end in November 1994. The old West Stand was demolished in 1997 and replaced by the current West Stand. The lower tier was built on schedule and opened in 1998.
Next in the redevelopment queue was the Shed End. The old terrace was replaced with temporary seating for a couple of years. The full completion of all-seater Stamford Bridge was completed in 2001. Since then and until today no major changes were made.
Chelsea has plans to expand the stadium to a 60,000 capacity.
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