Many football stadiums have been as long standing as the clubs themselves and have a wealth of history to match. We take a look at the history of the world's most famous stadiums and compare how they are now to times over 50 years ago.
San Siro
Home to Italian giants Milan and Inter Milan, the San Siro is known as one of the most hostile stadiums in European football. The stadium once had a peak capacity of 100 000 but was later reduced to 80 000 due to the Heysel Stadium Disaster. In preparation for the 1990 World Cup, the stadium was renovated into an all seater stadium which allowed a capacity of 88,000.
Camp Nou
It's the home to footballing giants Barcelona and is currently the fifth largest football stadium with a capacity of 99 500. The club was forced to move tin order o begin to build a new stadium in 1954 as their current stadium, Camp de Les Corts, had no further room for expansion. The importance of the new stadium was amplified due to the ever increasing number of fans who wanted a chance to watch one of Barcelona's greatest ever players, László Kubala, who signed in 1950.
Maracanã
Even before hosting the 2014 World Cup, the Maracanã was one of the most famous and iconic football stadiums in the world due to its ecliptic size. It was opened in 1950 and once recoreded a capacity of 199 854. The ground is now host to three Brazilian domestic sides Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo with a current all seater capacity of 78,000.
Santiago Bernabeu
The impressive home of Spanish giants Real Madrid is the second largest home stadium for a European club, only behind rivals Barcelona. The stadium was then was redeveloped as an all seater and since a dramatic influx of money the stadium has been built to accommodate 81 000 and is soon to be an 88 000 seater.
Old Trafford
The long standing stadium of footballing giants Manchester United is the second largest stadium in the UK (75 635) after Wembley. Unfortunately the stadium was the target of a German bombing raid and most of the ground was destroyed and was out of action for 10 years. The stadium eventually depleted to a capacity of 44 000 before a drastic increase with United's footballing success from 1990-2006 resulted in the capacity it is today.
Which stadium would you like to visit?
