Brentford Community Stadium included among EURO 2021 venues

The FA has today confirmed Brentford Community Stadium among the final venues for the next edition of the UEFA European Women’s Championship, which will be played across eight English host cities in the summer of 2021.

The following eight cities and nine host stadiums, which were confirmed today as plans for the tournament – to be played in July and August 2021 – have been selected to host group and knockout games across England:

1) Brighton & Hove – Brighton & Hove Community Stadium

2) London – Brentford Community Stadium

3) London – Wembley Stadium

4) Manchester – Manchester City Academy Stadium

5) Milton Keynes – Stadium MK

6) Rotherham – New York Stadium

7) Sheffield – Bramall Lane

8) Southampton – St Mary’s Stadium

9) Wigan & Leigh – Leigh Sports Village

Jon Varney, Brentford FC Chief Executive, said:

It is a great honour to have been chosen as a venue for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2021 tournament. We are building a high-quality stadium fully equipped and ready from day one for Premier League football and other major events. There is more work for us to do before we can host the games allocated to us, but this is a great boost for the project.

 

We have all watched the stadium grow from the ground and the first game is around a year away. Now we have another major event confirmed it will spread the news of what we are doing. We are committed to making our stadium one that all Brentford fans can be proud of and this is another great achievement for the Club. It is also a boost for the area with many people coming to games that might not have done so otherwise. I am sure they will love our stadium and Brentford itself.

The 17,250-seater stadium and associated development commenced in Quarter Two of 2018 with the Club’s development partner, and principal partner, EcoWorld London, and its stadium principal contractor Buckingham Construction Group Limited.

The Brentford Community Stadium development is an important part of the wider regeneration of the area known as Brentford East. It will deliver a stadium together with more than 900 new homes, a new purpose-built location for Brentford FC Community Sports Trust, and a public square with shops and cafes.

Leigh Sports Village replaces The City Ground, Nottingham as a tournament venue after Nottingham Forest became unviable for UEFA Women’s EURO 2021 matches due to planned stadium refurbishments. The ground is the current home of Manchester United Women and a host for Rugby League World Cup games in 2021.

UEFA Women’s EURO 2021 promises to be a record-breaking tournament for UEFA, with approximately 700,000 tickets due to be available for fans across the country and extensive coverage of every game of the tournament available on free-to-air television, radio and online.

Two of the stadia are current FA Women’s Super League grounds, and four of the venues – Brighton & Hove, Milton Keynes, Sheffield and Southampton – offer a capacity of over 30,000.

The showpiece Final will be staged at Wembley Stadium, meaning the national stadium will host back-to-back men’s and women’s UEFA EURO Finals in 2020 and 2021.

Hundreds of thousands of fans are expected to attend the tournament and millions more will watch the globally-televised event.

England previously staged the finals in 2005 – setting a European record attendance of 29,092 for the opening game in Manchester.

There’ll be a programme of fan events in the lead-up to and during the tournament in the host cities, as well as a legacy programme to improve access to and participation in girls’ and women’s football.

As tournament hosts, England qualify automatically and will be joined by another 15 teams for the final tournament in July 2021. Both the venues and the official match schedule will be formally approved by UEFA later this year.

Baroness Sue Campbell, The FA’s Director of Women’s Football, said:

The performance of the Lionesses this summer engaged the nation and helped to generate significant momentum in the women’s game. Looking ahead, hosting a home EURO in 2021 offers a huge opportunity for us to continue to push the profile of women’s football and to inspire more women and girls to get involved in the game.

 

The confirmation of these nine venues is an important milestone for us as a host nation on our journey towards the final tournament in July 2021. I am confident that the selected cities and stadia will allow hundreds of thousands of fans across the country to attend matches and will also help to deliver an atmosphere befitting of a home European Championship to the nation.

Images, courtesy: Brentford FC / UEFA

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