Wembley Stadium - Olympic 2012

The London 2012 Olympic proposal team have today unveiled their plans to host to the Games, with the new Wembley Stadium nominated to stage both the men’s and women’s football finals.

The Olympic finals are two of the biggest games in world football and a major part of the Olympic calendar. When it opens early in 2006, Wembley Stadium will be the biggest and best stadium in the world, seating 90,000 fans in state-of-the-art comfort and creating an unrivalled match atmosphere.

Although the focus of the plans is in East London, where a large area of land has been identified for the site of a purpose-built Olympic park, the Bid team have stressed the importance of including London’s "sporting crown jewels", with Wembley the most glittering of all. Wembley National Stadium Limited’s Chief Executive, Michael Cunnah, said:

"I’m delighted that Wembley’s been chosen to stage the finals of both the men’s and women’s football. We’ll be doing all we can to help bring the Games to London."

Wembley will be largely complete by the time that the IOC inspectors visit the UK to assess London’s bid. Cunnah explained:

"It will be a massive boost for the UK’s chances that, come decision time, London will be able to show the IOC around the greatest stadium in the world, the perfect stage for sport’s biggest events."

The prospect of women’s football being played at Wembley is another exciting possibility, and The FA is also examining the idea of staging The Women’s FA Cup Final at the Venue of Legends, to reflect the growing stature of the women’s game in England.