Stamford Bridge (/stm.frd brd/) is a football stadium located in Fulham, London, SW6 1HS.

It
is the home ground ofChelsea F.C.. The stadium is located within the Moore Park Estate also known
as Walham Green and is often referred to as simply The Bridge.
[4][5]
The capacity is
41,798,
[6]
making it the eighth largest ground in the Premier League.
Opened in 1877, the stadium was used by the London Athletic Club until 1905, when new
owner Gus Mears founded Chelsea Football Club to occupy the ground; Chelsea have played their
home games there ever since. It has undergone numerous major changes over the years, most
recently in the 1990s when it was renovated into a modern, all-seater stadium.
Stamford Bridge has been used as a venue for England international matches, FA Cup Finals, FA
Cup semi-finals and Charity Shield games. It has also hosted numerous other sports, such
as cricket, rugby union, speedway, greyhound racing, baseballand American football. The stadium's
highest official attendance is 82,905, for a league match between Chelsea and Arsenalon 12
October 1935.
Early history[edit]


Bird's Eye Picture of Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium in 1909
'Stamford Bridge' is considered to be a corruption of 'Samfordesbrigge' meaning 'the bridge at the
sandy ford'.
[7]
Eighteenth century maps show a 'Stanford Creek' running along the route of what is
now a railway line at the back of the East Stand as a tributary of the Thames. The upper reaches of
this tributary have been variously known as Billingswell Ditch, Pools Creek and Counters Creek. In
mediaeval times the Creek was known as Billingwell Dyche, derived from 'Billing's spring or stream'.
It formed the boundary between the parishes of Kensington and Fulham. By the eighteenth century
the creek had become known as Counter's Creek which is the name it has retained since.
[8]

The stream had two local bridges: Stamford Bridge on the Fulham Road (also recorded as Little
Chelsea Bridge) and Stanbridge on theKings Road, now known as Stanley Bridge.The existing
Stamford Bridge was built of brick in 18602 and has been partly reconstructed since then.


The brand New Stamford Bridge stadium in August 1905


Chelsea beat West Brom at Stamford Bridge in September 1905
Stamford Bridge opened in 1877 as a home for the London Athletic Club and was used almost
exclusively for that purpose until 1904, when the lease was acquired by brothers Gus and Joseph
Mears, who wanted to stage high-profile professional football matches there. However, previous to
this, in 1898, Stamford Bridge played host to the World Championship of shinty between Beauly
Shinty Club and London Camanachd.
[9]
Stamford Bridge was built close to Lillie Bridge, an older
sports ground which had hosted the 1873 FA Cup Final and the first ever amateur boxing matches
(among other things). It was initially offered to Fulham Football Club, but they turned it down for
financial reasons. They considered selling the land to the Great Western Railway Company, but
ultimately decided to found their own football club instead, Chelsea, to occupy the ground as a rival
to Fulham. Noted football groundarchitect Archibald Leitch, who had also designed Ibrox, Celtic
Park, Craven Cottage and Hampden Park, was hired to construct the stadium. In its early days,
Stamford Bridge stadium was served by a small railway station, Chelsea and Fulham railway station,
which was later closed after World War II bombing.
[10]

Stamford Bridge had an official capacity of around 100,000, making it the second largest ground
in England after Crystal Palace. It was used as the FA Cup final venue. As originally constructed,
Stamford Bridge was an athletics track and the pitch was initially located in the middle of the running
track. This meant that spectators were separated from the field of play on all sides by the width of
running track and, on the north and south sides, the separation was particularly large because the
long sides of the running track considerably exceeded the length of the football pitch. The stadium
had a single stand for 5,000 spectators on the east side. Designed by Archibald Leitch, it is an exact
replica of the Johnny Haynes stand he had previously built at the re-developed Craven Cottage (and
the main reason why Fulham had chosen not to move into the new ground). The other sides were all
open in a vast bowl and thousands of tons of material excavated from the building of the Piccadilly
Line provided high terracing for standing spectators exposed to the elements on the west side.