Wembley Stadium (1923) in the context of "FA Cup"

The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus caused by the outbreak of World War II, these were the first Summer Olympics held since the 1936 Games in Berlin. The 1940 Olympic Games had been scheduled for Tokyo and then for Helsinki, while the 1944 Olympic Games had been provisionally planned for London. This was the second time London hosted the Olympic Games, having previously hosted them in 1908, making it the second city to host the Summer Olympics twice (after Paris). The Olympics would return again to London 64 years later in 2012, making London the first city to host the games thrice, and the only such city until Paris, who hosted their third games in 2024, and Los Angeles, who will host theirs in 2028. The 1948 Olympic Games were also the first of two summer Games held under the IOC presidency of Sigfrid Edström. So far, the only Summer Olympics to be held in the 1940s as the 1940 and 1944 Summer Olympics were cancelled due to World War II

The 1948 Olympics came to be known as the "Austerity Games" due to the difficult economic climate and rationing imposed in the aftermath of World War II. No new venues were built for the games (with events taking place mainly at Wembley Stadium, also known as Empire Stadium, and the Empire Pool at Wembley Park), and athletes were housed in existing accommodation at the Wembley area instead of an Olympic Village, as were the 1936 Games and the subsequent 1952 Games in Helsinki. A record 59 nations were represented by 4,104 athletes, 3,714 men, and 390 women in 19 sport disciplines. Germany and Japan were not invited to participate in the games; the Soviet Union was invited but chose not to send any athletes, sending observers instead to prepare for the 1952 Olympics. Israel requested to participate (symbolically represented by Raya Bronstein and Frieda Berson-Lichtblau [he]) but was denied as the International Olympic Committee did not yet recognize the country, while the Olympic mandate of Palestine expired. This in turn shifted the view of the Arab countries who had intended to boycott the event and now decided to take part.

Lacrosse was a demonstration sport at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. Teams from Great Britain and the United States played a single match, which ended in a 5-5 draw. The match was played in Wembley Stadium. Team USA was composed of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute team members, while Team GB fielded an all-star team.

West Ham United Football Club is a professional football club based in Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, having moved from their former home, the Boleyn Ground, in 2016.

West Ham United was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. It moved to the Boleyn Ground, which remained its home ground for more than a century, in 1904. The team initially competed in the Southern League and Western League before joining the Football League in 1919. It was promoted to the top flight in 1923, when it was also losing finalist in the first FA Cup final held at Wembley. In 1940, the club won the inaugural Football League War Cup.

Wembley Greyhounds was the greyhound racing operation held at Wembley Stadium in London.

Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London, England. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which had stood from 1923 until 2003. The stadium is England's national football stadium, and thus hosts the majority of the England national team home matches and the FA Cup Final – the final of England's primary domestic club football competition. It is considered one of the most well known football stadiums in the world, and is considered a hub for the English game. Wembley Stadium is owned by the governing body of English football, the Football Association, whose headquarters are in the stadium, through its subsidiary Wembley National Stadium Ltd (WNSL). With 90,000 seats, it is the largest stadium in the UK and the second-largest stadium in Europe, behind Barcelona's Camp Nou.

Designed by Populous and Foster and Partners, the stadium is crowned by the 134-metre-high (440 ft) Wembley Arch which serves aesthetically as a landmark across London as well as structurally, with the arch supporting over 75% of the entire roof load. The stadium was built by Australian firm Multiplex at a cost of £798 million (£1.51 billion today). Two partially retractable roof structures over the east and west ends of the stadium can be opened to allow sunlight and aid pitch growth.

The 1923 FA Cup final was an association football match between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United on 28 April 1923 at the original Wembley Stadium in London. The showpiece match of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (better known as the FA Cup), it was the first football match to be played at Wembley Stadium. King George V was in attendance to present the trophy to the winning team.

Each team had progressed through five rounds to reach the final. Bolton Wanderers won 1–0 in every round from the third onwards, and David Jack scored the lone goal each time. West Ham United faced opposition from the Second Division or lower in each round, the first time this had occurred since the introduction of multiple divisions in the Football League. West Ham took three attempts to defeat Southampton in the fourth round but then easily defeated Derby County in the semi-final, scoring five goals.

The 1966 FIFA World Cup final was a football match played at Wembley Stadium in London on 30 July 1966 to determine the winner of the 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth FIFA World Cup. The match was contested by England and West Germany, with England winning 4–2 after extra time to claim the Jules Rimet Trophy. It was the first – and to date only – occasion that England has hosted or won the World Cup.

West Germany took the lead in the 11th minute when Helmut Haller shot the ball into the bottom left corner when an English defender failed to clear the ball, before Geoff Hurst equalized with a header to make it 1–1, assisting a teammate who took a free kick. The score remained level by halftime until England took the lead with a 78th minute goal from Martin Peters (who was the only player to be booked during the match). England almost won by full time before West German player, Wolfgang Weber, scored a 2–2 equaliser in the 90th minute. The game went into extra time, in which Geoff Hurst scored a controversial goal in the 101st minute to make the score 3–2 after the first 15 minutes of extra time, until Hurst scored again in the final minute to complete his hat-trick, ending the game 4–2 after the extra 30 minutes. He was the only man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final until Kylian Mbappé did so in 2022.

The UEFA Euro 1996 final was the final match of UEFA Euro 1996, the tenth European Championship, UEFA's top football competition for national teams. The match was played at Wembley Stadium in London, England, on 30 June 1996, and was contested between the Czech Republic and Germany.

En route to the final, both sides had been drawn in Group C, alongside Italy and Russia; Germany would defeat the Czech Republic 2–0 in their opening game and then go on to win the group, with the Czech Republic finishing second. Germany then defeated Croatia in the quarter-finals, before progressing to the final following a penalty shoot-out victory over hosts England in the semi-finals. Meanwhile, the Czech Republic beat Portugal in the quarter-finals, before overcoming France in the semi-finals, also via a penalty shoot-out.

Sir Arthur Elvin MBE (5 July 1899 – 4 February 1957) was a British businessman who was best known as the owner and operator of Wembley Stadium, London, and supporter of the 1948 Olympic Games. He is credited with saving Wembley Stadium from closure and demolition by introducing greyhound racing to the stadium in 1927, which paid off his loans.