Wembley Stadium History | The Story of the Iconic Twin Towers

Wembley Stadium has been the home of English football since 1923 — but the building you see today is the third version of the ground, and the story of how it got here runs through nearly every major moment in UK sporting history.

If you're standing under the arch on a Cup final day, you're standing on the site where England won the World Cup in 1966, where Live Aid raised £150 million in 1985, and where every FA Cup final since George V opened the original Empire Stadium has been played, with two short exceptions. Here's the full story of the Twin Towers, the arch that replaced them, and the matches that made Wembley the most recognisable stadium in world football.

The original Empire Stadium and the Twin Towers (1923–2000)

The original Wembley was built in 300 days for the British Empire Exhibition of 1924, with the first FA Cup final hosted there a year early in April 1923 — the famous "White Horse Final" between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham, where an estimated 200,000 fans crammed into a ground built for 125,000.

The Twin Towers — 38 metres tall, capped with cupolas, flanking the main entrance — were the visual signature of English football for nearly 80 years. Generations of fans walked up Wembley Way under their shadow on Cup final day, and they appeared on everything from FA Cup programmes to the back of England shirts.

The moments that defined the original ground

• 1923 — The White Horse Final. PC George Scorey on his grey horse Billie clearing the pitch of overflowing fans before kick-off. The image became the founding myth of the stadium.
• 1948 — Olympic Games. London's "Austerity Olympics", with Wembley as the centrepiece athletics venue.
• 1953 — The Matthews Final. Stanley Matthews finally winning his FA Cup medal at 38, with Blackpool beating Bolton 4-3 in the most celebrated Cup final of the era.
• 1966 — World Cup Final. England 4 West Germany 2 (after extra time). Geoff Hurst's hat-trick. Kenneth Wolstenholme's "they think it's all over — it is now." The high point of English football.
• 1985 — Live Aid. Queen's 21-minute set, Bowie, McCartney, U2. The biggest single concert of the 20th century, watched by 1.9 billion people.
• 1996 — Euro 96. "Football's Coming Home." Three Lions on the speakers, Gascoigne's goal against Scotland, and the heartbreaking semi-final loss to Germany on penalties.

Demolition and rebuild (2000–2007)

The original Wembley closed in October 2000 after a final England match — England 0, Germany 1 — and was demolished in 2002–03. The Twin Towers came down in February 2003, with one of the original turrets preserved at the Brent civic centre.

The replacement was supposed to open in 2003. It opened in 2007. Construction overran by years and the budget ballooned from £326m to £798m, but the new ground was, by every measure, world-class: a 90,000-seat capacity, sliding partial roof, no obstructed views, and the now-iconic 133-metre arch that holds up the north stand and is visible across north London.

The arch era (2007–present)

The new Wembley's arch is the longest unsupported roof structure in the world. It's lit up in different colours for every major fixture — red for FA Cup finals, blue and white for Spurs (who used Wembley as their home ground during the 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons while their new stadium was built), England's three lions colours for international fixtures, and rainbow for Pride.

The moments that have defined the new ground

• 2007 — FA Cup Final. Didier Drogba's late winner for Chelsea against Manchester United, the first competitive match at the rebuilt stadium.
• 2011 — Champions League Final. Barcelona 3 Manchester United 1. Pep Guardiola's Barça at the peak of their tiki-taka era.
• 2013 — Champions League Final. Bayern Munich 2 Borussia Dortmund 1. The first all-German final, decided by an Arjen Robben goal in the 89th minute.
• 2020 — Euro 2020 (held in 2021). England's run to the final, the semi-final win against Denmark, and the heartbreak on penalties against Italy.
• 2025 — FA Cup Final. Crystal Palace 1 Manchester City 0 — Eberechi Eze's goal, the club's first major trophy.
• 2026 — Championship and League One Play-Off Finals. Hull City and Bolton Wanderers' play-off final wins captured in poster form in our latest collection.

Wembley today — what gets played here

In a typical year, Wembley hosts:

• The FA Cup Final (May)
• The FA Cup Semi-Finals (April)
• The League Cup Final / Carabao Cup Final (February/March)
• The EFL Championship, League One and League Two Play-Off Finals (late May)
• England men's and women's international fixtures
• FA Community Shield (August)
• NFL London Series games (October)
• Major concerts — Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Adele, Beyoncé in recent years

Wembley in poster form

If you want Wembley on your wall — whether you're an FA Cup obsessive, a Spurs fan from the temporary-home years, or just a lover of stadium architecture — there are a few ways into the collection:

• Wembley stadium prints — the arch captured at sunset, on matchday, and in clean architectural detail. Browse our Iconic Grounds collection for the full Wembley range alongside other UK stadium prints.
• Stadium map prints — Wembley laid out floor-plan style, perfect alongside a stadium photograph print. Football stadium map posters.
• 2026 FA Cup & play-off final prints — capture this season's biggest Wembley moments. Play-Off & Cup Final Posters 2026.
• 2025/26 League Winner posters — for fans of the title-winning sides. League Winners 2026.

Every Poster Kingz print is produced on Lustre Photo Paper 180gsm with archival pigment ink, designed and printed in our Rugby studio. A4, A3 or A2 with optional matt-black aluminium frame. UK delivery from £2.99 Standard Tracked, with 48hr (£4.99) and 24hr (£7.99) options at checkout. 14-day returns on damaged or incorrect items.

Why Wembley matters

There are bigger stadiums. There are louder stadiums. There are stadiums with longer continuous histories. But there's no other ground that's simultaneously the home of a national team, the venue for two domestic cup finals every year, the host of every major outdoor concert that wants to play to 90,000 people, and the architectural symbol of an entire sport in its country.

That's why the Twin Towers are still on FA Cup memorabilia 25 years after they came down. And it's why the arch is the silhouette people draw when they're asked what English football looks like.