LIONESSES, THE ENGLAND NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM

Today, The Weasleys and The Grandma have visited Wembley Stadium in London, and they have met the history of the England women's national football team, the Lionesses, who are now participating in the FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, that has started today in Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau.

Before, they have practised All, Both and Neither.

More information: Both & Neither

The England women's national football team, (nicknamed the Lionesses) has been governed by the Football Association (FA) since 1993, having been previously administered by the Women's Football Association (WFA). England played its first international match in November 1972 against Scotland.

Although most national football teams represent a sovereign state, England is permitted by FIFA statutes, as a member of the United Kingdom's Home Nations, to maintain a national side that competes in all major tournaments, with the exception of the Women's Olympic Football Tournament.

England have qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup seven times, reaching the quarter-finals in 1995, 2007 and 2011, finishing third in 2015 and fourth in 2019.

Since 2019, England, as the highest-ranked Home Nation, have been able to qualify an Olympic team on behalf of Great Britain; other British players may be selected in the event of qualification.

They reached the final of the UEFA Women's Championship in 1984 and 2009, and won in 2022, marking the first time since 1966 that any England senior football team had won a major championship.

The success of the men's national football team at the 1966 FIFA World Cup led to an upsurge of interest in football from women within England. 

The Women's Football Association (WFA) was established in 1969 as an attempt to organise the women's game. That same year, Harry Batt formed an independent English team that competed in the Fédération Internationale Européenne de Football Féminine (FIEFF) European Cup.  Batt's team also participated in two FIEFF World Cups held in Italy (1970) and Mexico (1971).

Following an UEFA recommendation in 1972 for national associations to incorporate the women's game, the Football Association (FA) later that year rescinded its ban on women playing on English Football League grounds. Shortly after, Eric Worthington was tasked by the WFA to assemble an official women's national team. England competed in its first international match against Scotland in Greenock on 18 November 1972, 100 years to the month after the first men's international.

On 31 July, England defeated Germany 2-1 in extra time in the Women's Euro 2022 Final at Wembley, with Chloe Kelly's 110th-minute close-range goal from a corner being the decider after goals in normal time by Ella Toone for England and Lina Magull for Germany. It was the team's first-ever major trophy and was the first major international championship won by an England team (men's or women's) since 1966. The final was watched by a crowd of 87,192, a record for either the men's or women's European Championship.

More information: England Football

Wembley Stadium  is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. 

The stadium hosts major football matches including home matches of the England national football team, and the FA Cup Final. 

Wembley Stadium is owned by the governing body of English football, the Football Association (the FA), 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.

Designed by Populous and Foster and Partners, the stadium is crowned by the 134-metre-high 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 (£1.27 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.

In addition to England home games and the FA Cup final, the stadium also hosts other major games in English football, including the season-opening FA Community Shield, the League Cup final, the FA Cup semi-finals, the Football League Trophy, the Football League play-offs, the FA Trophy, the FA Vase and the National League play-offs. 

A UEFA category four stadium, Wembley hosted the 2011 and 2013 UEFA Champions League Finals, eight games at UEFA Euro 2020 (including the final and both of the semi-finals) and hosted the final of the UEFA Women's Euro 2022. It will stage the 2024 UEFA Champions League Final. 

The stadium hosted the Gold medal matches at the 2012 Olympic Games football tournament. The stadium also hosts rugby league's Challenge Cup final and music concerts. The stadium also hosted NFL London Games until 2019 and was also the temporary home of Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur between August 2017 and March 2019, while White Hart Lane was being demolished and their new stadium was constructed.

More information: Wembley Stadium

We won the cup, and it is just unbelievable.

Sarina Wiegman

WEMBLEY STADIUM IS OPENED AS THE EMPIRE STADIUM

Today, The Grandma has been watching the two Champion League finals played by Barça in Wembley in 1992 and 2011, a stadium that was opened on a day like today in 1923.

The original Wembley Stadium (originally known as the Empire Stadium) was a stadium in Wembley, London, best known for hosting important football matches. It stood on the same site now occupied by its successor.

Wembley hosted the FA Cup final annually, the first in 1923, which was its inaugural event, the League Cup final annually, five European Cup finals, the 1966 World Cup Final, and the final of Euro 1996.

The stadium also hosted many other sports events, including the 1948 Summer Olympics, rugby league's Challenge Cup final, and the 1992 and 1995 Rugby League World Cup Finals. It was also the venue for numerous music events, including the 1985 Live Aid charity concert. In what was the first major WWF pay-per-view to take place outside North America, it hosted the 1992 SummerSlam.

The stadium's first turf was cut by King George V, and it was first opened to the public on 28 April 1923. Much of Humphry Repton's original Wembley Park landscape was transformed in 1922-23 during preparations for the British Empire Exhibition of 1924-25.

First known as the British Empire Exhibition Stadium or simply Empire Stadium, it was built by Sir Robert McAlpine for the British Empire Exhibition of 1924 (extended to 1925).

More information: Wembley Stadium

The stadium cost £750,000, equivalent to approximately £46 million in 2020, and was constructed on the site of an earlier folly called Watkin's Tower. The architects were Sir John Simpson and Maxwell Ayrton and the head engineer Sir Owen Williams. It was originally intended to demolish the stadium at the end of the Exhibition, but it was saved at the suggestion of Sir James Stevenson, a Scot who was chairman of the organising committee for the Empire Exhibition. The ground had been used for football as early as the 1880s.

At the end of the exhibition, which proved to be a financial disappointment, the site at Wembley was considered by many to be a vast white elephant. It was bought by a property speculator, James White, who planned to sell off the buildings for redevelopment, including the stadium which had been the centrepiece of the exhibition. Arthur Elvin, an ex-RFC officer who had worked in a tobacco kiosk at the exhibition and had previous experience working for a scrap metal firm, was employed by White to oversee the selling off of the buildings and the clearance of the Wembley site.

The stadium had gone into liquidation after it was pronounced financially unviable. After nine months, having earnt a good sum from selling various buildings on the site, Elvin agreed to buy the stadium from White for a total of £127,000, using a £12,000 downpayment and the balance plus interest payable over ten years.

However, facing personal bankruptcy, White suddenly took his own life at his home King Edward's Place in 1927. This caused financial complications for Elvin, necessitating him to raise money within two weeks to commit to buy the stadium before it too was demolished.

More information: The Engineer

He was able to finance this by forming the Wembley Stadium and Greyhound Racecourse Company. He raised the money to buy the stadium at the original price he had agreed with White, and then immediately sold it back to the company, leaving him with a healthy personal profit. Instead of cash, he received shares in the company, which gave him the largest individual stake in Wembley Stadium, and he subsequently became chairman.

The electric scoreboard and the all-encircling roof, made from aluminium and translucent glass, were added in 1963.

The stadium's distinctive Twin Towers became its trademark and nickname. Also well known were the 39 steps needed to be climbed to reach the Royal box and collect a trophy and winners'/losers' medals.

Wembley was the first pitch to be referred to as Hallowed Turf, with many stadia around the world borrowing this phrase.

In 1934, the Empire Pool was built nearby. The Wembley Stadium Collection is held by the National Football Museum. The stadium closed in October 2000 and demolition commenced in December 2002, completing in 2003 for redevelopment. The top of one of the twin towers was erected as a memorial in the park on the north side of Overton Close in the Saint Raphael's Estate.

Wembley is best known for hosting football matches, having hosted the FA Cup Final annually as well as numerous England International fixtures.

More information: Standard

Wembley is the cathedral of football.

It is the capital of football and it is the heart of football.

Pelé