It is 100 years since Bolton beat West Ham in the 1923 FA Cup final to establish Wembley Stadium at the core of English sport.
Officially a crowd of 126,047 packed into the new venue, then known as the Empire Stadium, although estimates suggest up to 300,000 attended a game later dubbed the “White Horse final”, and it has since witnessed some of the biggest moments in the nation’s sporting history.
Here, Football Mad takes a look at some of the most memorable matches to be staged at both the original stadium and the one which replaced it in 2007.
The Matthews Final
Blackpool winger Stanley Matthews was 38 as he sought an FA Cup winners’ medal at the third, and perhaps last, attempt in May 1953.
His hopes looked forlorn when Bolton’s Eric Bell put his side 3-1 ahead 10 minutes into the second half, but inspired by Matthews, the Tangerines fought back with Stan Mortensen completing a hat-trick before Billy Perry scored a stoppage-time winner.
The Magical Magyars
Matthews was on the receiving end six months later when Olympic champions Hungary arrived in North London and taught England a lesson.
A team which included Matthews, Mortensen, Billy Wright and Alf Ramsey were taken apart on home soil with Nandor Hidegkuti plundering a hat-trick and captain Ferenc Puskas scoring twice in a 6-3 victory labelled the ‘Match of the Century’.
Henry’s hammer
Boxing came to Wembley in June 1963, when British heavyweight champion Henry Cooper fought 21-year-old Cassius Clay.
A bloodied Cooper dumped the American – soon to change his name to Muhammad Ali – on his backside with a savage left hook at the end of the fourth round only to be himself stopped in the next by a man who defeated Sonny Liston in his next fight to take the world title.
1966 and all that
On July 30 1966, Geoff Hurst lit up the old Twin Towers with the first World Cup final hat-trick in England’s 4-2 victory over West Germany.
Hurst, who had cancelled out Helmut Haller’s opener before Martin Peters took the hosts to within seconds of glory only for Wolfgang Weber to equalise, struck twice in extra time, the first of them with the help of a still disputed call from Azerbaijani linesman Tofiq Bahramov, to claim the Jules Rimet Trophy.
Bobby dazzler
A decade after the Munich Air Disaster which had claimed the lives of eight of his players, Manchester United manager Sir Matt Busby guided his rebuilt team to the pinnacle of continental football when they beat Benfica 4-1 at Wembley to lift the 1968 European Cup.
Bobby Charlton’s double either side of goals from George Best and Brian Kidd secured glory in extra time as United became the first English club to lift the trophy.
Gray day for Sunderland
The 1998 Championship play-off final yielded one of the most dramatic contests ever fought out at headquarters as Charlton eventually edged their way into the Premier League after a roller-coaster 4-4 draw with Sunderland.
The sides could not be spilt despite Clive Mendonca’s hat-trick against his home-town club and the combined firepower of Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn, and ultimately Sasa Ilic’s penalty shoot-out save from Michael Gray won the day.
Noisy neighbours
The home of English football provided temporary accommodation for Welsh rugby union while the Millennium Stadium was under construction, although they proved ungrateful tenants.
Victory over Wales would have handed England a 1999 Five Nations Grand Slam, and they led 31-25 until Scott Gibbs’ superb late try and Neil Jenkins’ conversion sent the crown to Scotland instead.
Lionesses roar
A crowd of 87,192 packed into Wembley on July 31, 2022 to witness England’s 2-1 extra-time victory over Germany.
Ella Toone’s superb finish had given Sarina Wiegman’s side a 62nd-minute lead, but after Lina Magull had levelled to take the tie into extra time, Chloe Kelly stabbed home and clinched the Lionesses’ first major title.
