Sport




London has hosted the Summer Olympics three times: in 1908, 1948, and 2012, making it the first city to host the modern Games three times. The city was also the host of the British Empire Games in 1934. In 2017, London hosted the World Championships in Athletics for the first time.

London's most popular sport is football and it has six clubs in the English Premier League as of the 2020–21 season: Arsenal, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur, and West Ham United. Other professional teams in London are Queens Park Rangers, Brentford, Millwall, Charlton Athletic, AFC Wimbledon, Leyton Orient, Barnet, Sutton United, Bromley and Dagenham & Redbridge.

From 1924, the original Wembley Stadium was the home of the English national football team. It hosted the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final, with England defeating West Germany, and served as the venue for the FA Cup Final as well as rugby league's Challenge Cup final. The new Wembley Stadium serves exactly the same purposes and has a capacity of 90,000.

Two Aviva Premiership rugby union teams are based in London, Saracens and Harlequins. London Scottish, London Welsh and London Irish play in the RFU Championship club and other rugby union clubs in the city include Richmond F.C., Rosslyn Park F.C., Westcombe Park R.F.C. and Blackheath F.C.. Twickenham Stadium in south-west London hosts home matches for the England national rugby union team and has a capacity of 82,000 now that the new south stand has been completed.

While rugby league is more popular in the north of England, there are two professional rugby league clubs in London – the London Broncos in the second-tier RFL Championship, who play at the Trailfinders Sports Ground in West Ealing, and the third-tier League 1 team, the London Skolars from Wood Green, Haringey.

One of London's best-known annual sports competitions is the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, held at the All England Club in the south-western suburb of Wimbledon. Played in late June to early July, it is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and widely considered the most prestigious.

London has two Test cricket grounds, Lord's (home of Middlesex C.C.C.) in St John's Wood and the Oval (home of Surrey C.C.C.) in Kennington. Lord's has hosted four finals of the Cricket World Cup, and is known as the Home of Cricket. Other key events are the annual mass-participation London Marathon, in which some 35,000 runners attempt a 26.2 miles (42.2 km) course around the city, and the University Boat Race on the River Thames from Putney to Mortlake.

  • Wembley Stadium, home of the England football team, has a 90,000 capacity. It is the UK's biggest stadium.

  • Twickenham, home of the England rugby union team, has an 82,000 capacity, the world's largest rugby union stadium.

  • Centre Court at Wimbledon. First played in 1877, the Championships is the oldest tennis tournament in the world.

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