St Andrews
Alternate: St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park
Sponsor: Knighthead Park
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Birmingham vs StockportWed 04 Dec 2024 19:45
Established
1906 (118 years old)
Capacity
30,016
Build Cost
Architect
Country
England
Location
Birmingham, England
Timezone
UTC-0
Coordinates
52°28′33″N 1°52′05″W
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Description
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St Andrew's is an association football stadium in the Bordesley district of Birmingham, England. It has been the home ground of Birmingham City Football Club for more than a century.
Constructed and opened in 1906 to replace the Muntz Street ground, which had become too small to meet the club's needs, the original St Andrew's could hold an estimated 75,000 spectators, housed in one grandstand and a large uncovered terrace. The attendance record, variously recorded as 66,844 or 67,341, was set at a 1939 FA Cup tie against Everton. During the Second World War, St Andrew's suffered bomb damage and the grandstand, housing a temporary fire station, burned down in an accidental fire. In the 1950s, the club replaced the stand and installed floodlights, and later erected a second small stand and roofed over the open terraces, but there were few further changes.
The ground became dilapidated: a boy was killed when a wall collapsed during rioting in the 1980s. When new owners took the club out of administration in 1993, they began a six-year redevelopment programme during which the ground was converted to an all-seater stadium to comply with the Taylor Report into safety at sports grounds, and all areas apart from the Main Stand were completely rebuilt. The seating capacity of the modern stadium is just over 30,000. It has function rooms suitable for business or social events and a club store selling Birmingham City merchandise. A 2004 proposal that the club should sell the ground and move into a multi-purpose City of Birmingham Stadium remains speculative. In 2013, the ground was listed as an Asset of Community Value under the Localism Act 2011.
St Andrew's has been the venue for England international football matches at all levels below the senior national team, and for semifinal matches in the FA Cup and finals of lesser competitions. It has played host to events in other sports, including rugby union and professional boxing, and more recently has staged music concerts.
The arena was opened officially by Dame Kelly Holmes and sports minister Richard Caborn on 24 February 2007. By this time the arena had been open for a year and had already hosted a sell-out England U21 football match against Germany as well as a full season of Coventry City football matches.
The Ricoh Arena was the first cashless stadium in the United Kingdom, with customers using a prepay smartcard system in the grounds bars and shops. However, the stadium now accepts cash at all kiosks.
The stadium was initially operated by Arena Coventry Limited (ACL), with Coventry City F.C. as tenants. ACL was owned jointly by Coventry City Council and the Higgs Charity until both shareholders were bought out by rugby union Premiership club Wasps in October and November 2014. Wasps' first home match in Coventry was on 21 December 2014 against London Irish.
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