Old Trafford History: Manchester United Stadium

As a prominent football club in England Manchester United have continued to caught the eye of many football enthusiasts. The Red Devils have won over 40 trophies and sit among the most successful clubs in the English Premier League.

Nonetheless, Manchester United is the host to the prestigious football stadium; "Old Trafford". Given the numbers of both domestic and European trophies united has won Old Trafford has accumulated a wide range of prizes; more than most Premier League stadiums.

In this article, we'll be dealing with some important data about the Manchester United stadium.

About Old Trafford 

Old Trafford is a big capacity football stadium that is located in Greater Manchester, England. This football stadium is officially owned by Manchester United hence this is where all home matches of the English football club are hosted.

Moreover, the stadium has a sitting capacity of 74,140 and is the largest of all stadiums in the English League. In the United Kingdom the United's stadium occupies the second spot in terms of capacity; only Wembley Stadium has a more bigger capacity.

Moving over to Europe the stadium still ranks well; it is the 11th most biggest. This makes the stadium "class" and "reputable".

More so, Old Trafford is also a fortress for the English Premier League club; most times United find it easy to win games played here than any other pitch.

What we now know as Old Trafford began with a plan; followed by foundation which was master by Sir Matt Busby Way who was the chief engineer in charge of the building. He was awarded a whopping sum of £90,000 in 1909 to embark on the construction of the stadium.

Alongside Archibald Leitch (architect) and a host of other sound construction engineers Old Trafford was completed in 1909. A year later (1910) it was commissioned on the 19th February.

Moreover, the popular football stadium in terms of capacity measures 105 by 68 metres which is equivalent to 114.8 yard × 74.4 yard.

Old traffic is not just one of Europe's most biggest football stadium but is also a host to some memory football events. Here are the major events hosted by the stadium:

2012 Olympic Football

UEFA Women's Euro 2021

UEFA Euro 1996

1966 FIFA World Cup

2021 Rugby League World Cup

2013 Rugby League World Cup

2003 UEFA Champions League Final

1995 Rugby League World Cup

Old Trafford is also known as " The Theatre of Dreams". This nickname was masterminded by Bobby Charlton who was an influential figure for United.

More so, Manchester United's stadium is characterised by three stands which are West, North and East. Following a series of the deliberation by the club's management in the late 90s and early 2000s the stadium was expanded a little further.

However, Old Trafford has a capacity of about 80,000 people. This is predicted to be further expanded to 88,000 as plans to increase the stadium's Southern stand is more likely to happen.

Old Trafford's record match attendance happened in 1939. In that match 76,962 spectators were present in the event of an FA cup semi-final encounter. When this match was played it was not an all-seater hence the reason why such large number of football fans could be accommodated at the time.

Meanwhile, when Old Trafford was converted to an all-seater stadium 76,098 was the record attendance. The record was set during the 2007 tense match between Blackburn Rovers and Manchester United.

Furthermore, this stadium was adopted as an all semi-final's neutral venue. The football playing ground has also hosted several several finals, replays, and world Cup matches.

Located in Greater Manchester United Kingdom Old Trafford has been host to many England games from competitions ranging from 1966 World Cup to 2012 Summer Olympics. Moreover, the stadium was the venue where the 2003 Champions League Final was hosted.

 Old Trafford's record attendance for a non-competitive game is 74,731, set on 5 August 2011 for a pre-season testimonial between Manchester United and New York Cosmos.

However, aside having positive records Old Trafford also boost of few bad ones. The stadium had an all-time low record of 11,968 football enthusiasts in a competitive football match in 1950. 

This match happened after the war and was contested between Manchester United and Fulham. Nonetheless, this record happened to hold true only for a Manchester United game.

In 1921, Old Traffic recorded a very low attendance in the match between Leicester City and Stockport County. Only 13 fans attended the match but according to reports many fans who watched United game against Derby County remained after the match ended.

Old Trafford is the largest football stadium in England and one of the biggest in Europe. This article deals on the stadium and explore certain facts about the sports facility.