Football
Dan Kilpatrick, Tottenham Correspondent 8y

Tottenham to play home games at Wembley in UCL and Premier League

Tottenham Hotspur will play their Champions League home games at Wembley next season and can use the national stadium as a temporary home for the following campaign after announcing a double deal with the Football Association.

The deal will be worth roughly £26 million to the FA, and includes the option of Spurs spending a further season at Wembley as a safety net should the new stadium hit delays, a source has told ESPN FC.

Spurs' 36,000-capacity home, White Hart Lane, will lose 4,000 seats from the North Stand, the Paxton Road end, this summer to aid building work on the new stadium, adjacent to the current ground, meaning Spurs need an alternative venue for next season's Champions League matches to meet UEFA requirements regarding access, capacity and rights delivery.

Chairman Daniel Levy told the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust on Tuesday that Spurs will not benefit financially from the decision to play Champions League matches away from Tottenham.

The club will then use the 90,000-seater venue for every home game in the 2017-18 season while White Hart Lane is demolished and the new stadium finalised.

Levy said on Spurs' official website: "We are delighted that, through working in partnership with WNSL and the Football Association, we have been able to reach this agreement.

"Given the current reduction in capacity at White Hart Lane for next season and the ticketing requirements for Champions League, playing at Wembley will mean that we can continue to accommodate all of our existing Season Ticket holders.

"Our season ticket waiting list is over 50,000 so this now also offers us a great opportunity to provide more of our supporters with a chance to see the team play live during our Champions League campaign.

"Importantly, as we know it was our fans' preference, it means that we can continue to play our home matches in London during our season away."

Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn said: "Having Tottenham at Wembley for big European nights next season is a welcome opportunity for us to further the stadium's position as a world-class venue.

"As well as helping the club and its fans, it will benefit London and English football in general with our commitment to reinvesting all profits back into the game.

"The increased revenue will particularly help us meet our targets for improving coaching and grassroots facilities and growing participation. We were already on a strong financial footing, which allowed us to reinvest £117m back into the game at all levels last season."

Spurs will not be able to fill the stadium for every Premier League and Champions League match, although the source said they would be allowed to use the full capacity for the biggest games.

The source also said Spurs will pay roughly £22m per season in rent to the FA and the overall package could be worth up to £26m to the governing body, if Spurs progress to the knockouts stages of the Champions League.

^ Back to Top ^