England, Italy and Spain are three main European powers in club football, so we take a look on the key football cities and stadiums of these countries.



England is the motherland of football. That fact explains nearly religious attitude to this game. English football fans proved them to be the most violent and expressive in the whole world.

London is the capital of the Great Britain and a home to two very successful English football clubs - "Chelsea" and "Arsenal"

Stamford Bridge is now Chelsea home stadium. It was opened 28 April 1877 but primary was used only for athletics games. In the beginning of the XX century the stadium was offered to Fulham FC, but after its refusal newborn Chelsea club obtained a foothold in here.

Arsenal FC for many years performed on Wembly stadium but now is building a new arena called Ashberton Grove.

The next point on the English map is Liverpool. Its legendary Anfield Road belongs to Liverpool for over a century. Liverpool anthem "You'll never walk alone" performed hundreds of times here.

The last, but no the least in the top of the English stadiums is Manchester's Old Trafford. On the break of XIX and XX centuries Manchester United played on the other stadium, but in 1910 the present stadium was built. In 1941, during World War II Old Trafford was damaged and needed a full reconstruction. Since that the stadium was improved several times and now there still exist plans to increase the number of the seats here.

The next stop in our football trip is Spain, a country no less addicted to the game. The greatest Spanish clubs and the main rivals in Spanish championship are Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Matches between these two teams attract the most rapt attention and called "classico". Madrid and Barcelona house two major stadiums - Santiago Bernabeu (Madrid) and Nou Camp or Camp Nou in Barcelona.

Santiago Bernabeu stadium is named after the chairman of the Board of Directors, Santiago Bernabeu - a legend of the Spanish football.

Camp Nou can almost 100,000 spectators and is the largest sport structure in the whole Europe.

The third spot on our European football map is Italy. Here the confrontation of Juventus from Torino and AC Milan from Milan plays a key role in distribution of the prizes of Italian club championship. The fields of these great battles are San Siro stadium in Milan and Delle Alpi in Torino.

If compare with the English and Spanish arenas - "Delle Alpi" is a newborn stadium as it was built only in 1990 for the World Championship.

San Siro otherwise called Giuseppe Meazza stadium was opened on 19 September 1926. The first match there was played between two teams, which still share this stadium - AC Milan and Internazionale (also known as Inter).

Voyage to these sport structures especially combined with the contemplation of the world's most favorite game will surely make an unforgettable experience.