Wembley to host Champions League Final in The FA’s 150th year
The decision was announced at a UEFA press...
Wembley Stadium has today been chosen to host the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final.
The decision was announced at a UEFA press conference following their Executive Committee meeting and follows the success of last month’s Champions League Final at Wembley.
It was also announced that UEFA Congress will be held in London in the days leading up to the UEFA Champions League Final.
FA Chairman David Bernstein said: “We are delighted Wembley Stadium has been chosen to host the 2013 Champions League Final.
“UEFA viewed the 2011 Champions League Final at Wembley as a major success and today they have paid us the ultimate compliment by announcing that they will return to our national stadium in 2013, the year of The FA’s 150th anniversary.
“It will be a major celebration of football in this country during a landmark year for our organisation and is an acknowledgment of Wembley’s status as one of the very best football stadiums in the world.”
Wembley Stadium Chairman Melvin Benn added: “It is an honour that Wembley has been chosen by UEFA to host the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final. It was always our aim to deliver the best ever Champions League Final in May to maximise our chances of getting it back. The fact that this announcement has come so soon after the success of the 2011 final shows just how impressed UEFA was with our stadium and with our team.
“Wembley is a world class stadium and was built to stage the very biggest and best events. I would like to thank MD Roger Maslin and the whole team at Wembley for delivering such a fantastic final in May. We will now look forward to working with UEFA and putting on a spectacular final in 2013.”
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: "This is excellent news for London and proves once again that we are the emerging world capital of sport.
"I am truly delighted that London will once again welcome Europe's footballing giants in 2013. There couldn't be a better fit. We are home to some of the very best of Europe's clubs, grounds and players. This is the contest of contests; and just a year after the Olympics, this couldn't be better."
Iain Edmondson - Head of Major Events, London & Partners added “UEFA’s decision re-emphasises London’s status as one of the world’s top destinations for sport and major events. The major events team at London & Partners was instrumental in bidding for this year’s successful event in the capital, and helped create a sporting spectacle for the city, which included the eight-day public Champions Festival which took place in London’s iconic Hyde Park.
“Today’s news highlights London’s sporting legacy and we truly believe this is the first of many world-class events which will be coming to London after 2012.”
This will be Wembley Stadium’s seventh European Cup Final after hosting the Final in 1963, 1968, 1971, 1978, 1992 and most recently in May of 2011. It is also the first time the same stadium will stage the showpiece final twice in three seasons. Previously the record for the shortest gap at the same venue was four years – a record shared by the Prater Stadium in Vienna which hosted the final in 1987 and 1990 and Wembley for hosting the final in 1968 and 1971.