The English football season came to an end with two sold-out Wembley Stadium events.
However, the new Wembley Stadium record of 89,874 set by Pompey and Cardiff in the 2008 FA Cup final remains intact. On Saturday, the second consecutive Manchester derby FA Cup final drew 84,814 fans as Manchester United defeated their rivals’ bid for the Double.
This was followed by 85,862 attending Southampton’s 1-0 victory over Leeds in Sunday’s Championship play-off final to return to the Premier League. The record attendance for a Championship final remains 87,348, set in May 2014 when Derby defeated QPR 1-0.
Since the 90,000-capacity Wembley Stadium reopened in May 2007, it has hosted 18 FA Cup finals, as well as other domestic cup competitions, play-off finals, internationals, and the Women’s Euro 2022 final. However, the attendance of 89,874 for the Blues’ 1-0 victory over Cardiff remains unprecedented.
It is also the best-attended FA Cup final in the last 36 years, with 98,203 fans witnessing Wimbledon’s miraculous 1-0 victory over Liverpool in May 1988.
During that time, the Millennium Stadium hosted six cup finals, including Southampton’s loss to Arsenal in 2003.
However, with a capacity of 73,931, every FA Cup final at Wembley since then has eclipsed those numbers. When Pompey faced Chelsea there in May 2010, two years after their Cardiff match, the attendance was 88,335, greater than the previous seven FA Cup finals. Despite the fact that Covid forced Arsenal and Chelsea to play behind closed doors in 2020, Leicester defeated Chelsea in a 20,000-person stadium the following year.
Incidentally, Pompey’s Checkatrade Trophy crowd of 85,021 against Sunderland is still the largest in the competition’s history. This season, 42,252 people saw Peterborough’s 2-1 triumph over Wycombe in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy in April.
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