7 HUGE Football Stadiums That No Longer Exist

From the original Wembley Stadium in London to the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, HITC Sevens takes a look at some of the largest forgotten football grounds from across the world, ending with a 250,000 capacity mega structure.
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[@BigKokRok]

That Bald & Bankrupt call got me good lmao

[@papasuge1931]

Lmao I thought I was the only one that got that

[@NuanceJournalism]

Me to 🇻🇳🇻🇳🇻🇳

[@RobJaskula]

Hahaha at his second "Soviet" I stated hoping for it! Good laugh

[@invictussupremus5832]

As a Benfica fan I was checking to see if saw our old cathedral and wasn't disappointed! Truly one of the most iconic and magnificent stadiums of it's era!

[@MegaKapo12]

Como diziam o Xutos não sou o único.

[@PelleLolWut]

I have to agree. I had never seen or heard of it before, but my jaw dropped to the floor when I saw the pictures of it in the video. What a beautiful stadium.

[@GuiSLB69]

Benfica

[@erdnasiul87]

MAKE ESTÁDIO DA LUZ GREAT AGAIN

[@c3phs]

O arquitecto que "desenhou" o novo estádio da luz quer refazer-lo e acho que é uma boa ideia desde que Portugal e Espanha concorrem juntos para o Mundial 2030

[@yj1489]

Video idea : Ten clubs that will be unknown in 10 years.

[@odsonneedouard2253]

Crawley Town Lincoln City etc

[@ian-hb1ys]

Bolton

[@bigmancanty7039]

Ingolstadt and Bolton

[@claycopter]

Alfie barely ever does predictions. This is more of an Irish Guy video.

[@colmmcsweeney8625]

hitc SEVENS ...............

[@liddlej4]

Having been to Prague I can attest to how unimaginably massive Strahov Stadium is. I was on a tour headed to Prague Castle when we drove by the Stadium. At the time I didn't know what it was but I did know it seemed to go on forever.

[@pkingglazersout6665]

Video idea: Ranking every team that has won the European continental treble since 1967

[@Mikeb1001]

Utterly impossible. Different eras, rules, styles, standards and levels of competition mean it is subjective, especially as the modern Champions League is really a completely different competition to the old European Cup, just retaining the same trophy

[@alexgunn3879]

Day 19: the decline of Scottish football- how teams like Celtic and Aberdeen went from European trophies to struggling to qualify and why the national team has become so poor

[@Joe-xf5ot]

Day 19 of no one caring how long you've been begging your idea for

[@alexgunn3879]

@@Joe-xf5ot over 100 likes, hardly nobody

[@user-sb2mt6pz4o]

Rangers are back doing well in Europe and the reason we’re terrible at the national level is our school facilities are white there’s not a lot of clubs with actual coaches it’s just someone’s dad and we all do underage drinking and smoking and sometimes drugs

[@user-sb2mt6pz4o]

Shite**

[@GerLeahy]

Money! Money! Money! Once the tipping point came of English clubs being able to buy all the top talent in the Scottish league, the league's preeminence had past.

[@sebastiaocamarinhas194]

A restaurant near my home in Almada (south of Lisboa) has a seat from the old Estádio da Luz. It's on top of some indoor ceiling tiles. It looks really cool whilst looking extremely out of place.

[@sebastiaocamarinhas194]

P.S it doesn't really mean Stadium of Light. Luz is an area of Lisbon, we have the Hospital da Luz as well.

[@Guipc7]

como se chama? come-se bem?

[@sebastiaocamarinhas194]

@@Guipc7 chama-se o Laranjeira (existem muitos restaurantes com o mesmo nome mas procurando por "Laranjeira Aroeira ou "Laranjeira Charneca da Caparica" deve aparecer). E sim! Come-se muito bem. Está mais "brand friendly" agora do que dantes mas a qualidade da comida não mudou.

[@Guipc7]

@@sebastiaocamarinhas194 👍 obrigado

[@supersueca1]

So nice to see the legendary Estádio da Luz again. So many great memories.. was there on the final day, and like so many others, grabbed a bit of the turf, which I unsucessfully tried to grow in my garden. As for the biggest attendance, there is a consensus that the match with highest attendance (albeit unofficially), was the WC Youth final when Portugal beat Brazil back in 1991.

[@Ri_F]

Luz is a neighbourhood in the parish of Carnide, where the Estádio da Luz is also located. Funnily Estádio da Luz just neighbours the parish of Benfica.

[@JohnSmith-kd6ip]

I was hoping the Zentralstadion of Leipzig would be included, and it was. It is mentioned that it was demolished and replaced by the RB Arena. Well, the new stadium was build inside the old stadium. The mounts of the old stadium are still there, as areal footage will show. Odd construction.

[@rushabhjadhav7727]

Video Ideas : Scotland XI if all eligible players declared for them Wales XI if all eligible players declared for them United Ireland XI

[@ethanc4808]

I think he’s already Dona a united Ireland xi

[@nickgrch]

Fantastic video again, Alfie. I'm glad you put in Strahov Stadium as I was in Prague 2 months ago and had no idea about the stadium. Looked where in Prague it is located & noticed it is on the west side of the famous Petrin Tower lookout point. I had a quick look at my photos from when I went to the top of the tower & low and behold, what do ya know, I have a photo of it without even realising it. Incredible structure.

[@Gerrie_de_B.]

Only problem why it shouldn't be in this list is the fact that no Football game was ever played there. Only now when AC Sparta Praha uses it as their training base Football is played. Still tho one of the most epic stadiums there are. And I can visit it every day if I want, it's 30 min by tram from my house :D

[@nickgrch]

@@Gerrie_de_B. I remember clearly heading into Prague city centre via car after I landed at the airport & we drove past the stadium & I just remember thinking, 'How long is this stadium?'

[@Gerrie_de_B.]

@@nickgrch I know, long size looks normal till you go around and you realize it is the short side... :D

[@PajaRocky]

@@Gerrie_de_B. In fact, matches are played in this stadium. The men's team occasionally plays friendly matches there, the "B" team also plays matches there and the women's team plays most of their matches there.

[@cookies_accepted]

Funny about Leipzig- the new Red Bull Arena has been constructed in the middle of the "bowl" of the Zentralstadion. You can still see remains of the Zentralstadion stands today

[@mohamedalsaggaf2477]

man I love your videos, I've been here since 100k you and HITC sport are the best football youtube channels, deserve millions of subs.

[@georgegreig8054]

You should do a video on the oldest National Stadium Hampden Park. It holds all the European records. Clubs like Motherwell and Dundee have appeared in front of attendances here that are bigger than any of the top European clubs have played in front of. It still retains its original shape from 1903. The terracing has basically just been replaced with seats. This is the 3rd Hampden Park. The second Hampden still exists just up the road from the 1903 Hampden. It was renamed Cathkin park which was left to rot in 1967 but the pitch and terracing are still there. The first Hampden is now Hampden bowling club. This is where the world's first international was played in 1873. Scotland beat England 5-1 with the first black player to play in international football as well. For Scotland of course.

[@bigboymatthew7471]

shut up mate you just had to include the scorline since scotland are so shit they bring up games from 400 years ago. The only 5-1 I remember is when scotland got a 5-1 hammering by USA lol

[@JoaoSantos28555]

Alfie The record in the Old Estádio da Luz is 140k at least when portugal won the u20 final in 1991. There are no records of that but my dad would go to every game and told it had more people than that classico. I would have loved to go there, my dad was one of the 7 founders of Red Devils Ultras and tells me amazing stories, people brought their own 5/10 liters of wine, a griller to grill some steaks, would go inside with knifes to cut bread, feed the securities whenever they were hungry and nobody was ever hurt. It all changed on an away game in our league when a fan threw a bottle of wine to the linesman head and he blacked out. A porto fan would always bring a pig and whenever they scored he would go around the pitch and everyone would call him "porco" (pig) as it is very similar to porto name and tbf that´s what their are xD

[@PrecisionCalc]

Estadio da luz

[@giorgosfylaktou2610]

I AGREE 👍 WITH YOU. LOVE FROM CYPRUS 🇨🇾.

[@miguelfpaula]

When will the new stadium be finished? I looks like a construction site and one of the ugliest buildings in Lisbon

[@filipe5585]

@@miguelfpaula Só podes ser lagarto tu, vê mas é se passas aos 8avos da champions e cala-te

[@miguelfpaula]

@@filipe5585 O Alvaláxia parece um urinol baratucho. Mas ao menos é um urinol acabado . Já o estádio da Luz parece que acabou o dinheiro antes de comprar a tinta para pintar aquela m3rda. É um autentico escarro numa das cidades mais bonitas do mundo. Literalmente um estaleiro das obras com o betão à mostra.

[@toustik_]

There are still some matches at Strahow stadium. Sparta Prague´s B team plays there their 3rd tier fixtures and also some of the youth teams of Sparta.

[@chadsexinton2710]

Alfie loves a stadium vid

[@amaurylannes]

Imagine watching 9 different games on the last day of the league/group at Strahov Stadium

[@richardhowlett9424]

You mentioned Wembley stadium being a new stadium on the old site , so why not Hampden Park ? The old ground had a capacity of around 160,000 , new ground 50,000 or so .

[@stewartmacpherson9117]

Hampden wasn't demolished. Seats were placed on the old terracing and a roof added on the Celtic, North and Rangers ends. The oval shape is still there. Though the main stand was knocked down and rebuilt in the same style.

[@zweimeterzwerg1361]

ACHTUNG! The GDR played their last match ever on the 12th of september 1990 in Brussels - a 2:0 victory over Belgium. Matthias Sammer scored twice.

[@RobJaskula]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWmco6mKipd-h6s whole match is on KZbin!

[@abiralmdr]

Day 65 : Ranking every barca signing since Neymar's sale

[@Hammerlockv01]

Maybe attacking signings since there have been alot of defencive signings too. Purely due to lenght.

[@dopeduplet6745]

This is the best channel on KZbin! Hands down! @HITC Sevens

[@owenthfc9055]

Hey alfie, i dont know if you will see this but I’d love to see you make a video on africa’s ‘right to dream’ academy and their heavy connections to Manchester City and FC Nordsjælland. Nordsjælland (Danish team) have dozens of Ghanaians in theor team because of it including hot property Muhammad Kudus who recently signed for Ajax. Manchester City also have some current and former right to dream players in their academy including Godsway Donyoh (who is now at Nordsjælland), Collins Tanor, Razak Nuhu, Nana Boateng, Thomas Agyepong, Divine Naah, Yaw Yeboah, Ernest Agyiri, Evans Mensah, Enock Kwakwa, Dominic Oduro and so many more. You many not know many, if not any but that’s not the point the point is Man City’s and Nordsjælland’s involvement in the right to dream academy and I believe City have had some sort of legal controversy with this whole right to dream and Nordsjælland stuff. Would love to see a video made on this personally as I find it really interesting.

[@rc9667]

Old Benfica Cathedral was fenomenal!

[@gjef9971]

You missed Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland. Holds a lot of records. It was allegedly the largest football stadium for attendances in the world during the early part of 20th century. Ground improvements increased the official capacity of the ground to 183,388 in 1937, but the SFA were only allowed to issue 150,000 tickets for games.[19] The 1937 Scotland v England match had an official attendance of 149,415, but at least 20,000 more people entered the ground without tickets.[19][20] A week later the 1937 Scottish Cup Final between Celtic and Aberdeen drew an official crowd of 147,365, with 20,000 more people locked outside.[19] Biggest attendance at a European Cup tie was Celtic v Leeds 1970 semi-final 136,000 Hampden Park (official attendance would have been 140,000).

[@blahdelablah]

I thought it was stated at the start of the video that it wouldn't include stadiums that were changed over time, only those that ceased to exist (or ceased to host football games).

[@vordman]

Hampden Park still exists!

[@Brickhazard]

For me Kirov means a massive Zeplin from Red Alert 2!

[@Exnavyjay]

Excellent, I never knew about the strahov stadium

[@michaelay4900]

Vid idea: 7 best individual performance but they eventually lost the game.

[@rahulkhosla3009]

Crespo in the 2005 champions league final

[@lakshyavason1326]

Ronaldo v United 2003

[@rahulkhosla3009]

@@lakshyavason1326 sporting lisbon ?

[@jordynbentley3111]

@@rahulkhosla3009 I think he means the Brazilian Ronaldo

[@FoodFolksandGuns]

Germany 7 : Oscar 1

[@adrano_]

Loved the Bald and Bankrupt reference!

[@jamiewilson5679]

Well,I'd never heard of the west ham stadium. Nice one.👏👍

[@jamiewilson5679]

Have you ever done a video on quirky old grounds? Norwich used to play at the Nest which was an old chalk pit I believe. I used to live very close to it and you could still see crush barriers and advertising hoardings up until the early-mid 80s.The corner collapsed several times due to the od chalk mines (I think they were neolithic) and the original Russell Allison (groundsman,there have been three of them) had to shore it up with wooden beams!

[@kochstevens3210]

love how back in the day they used to have vast crowds upwards of 120 or 130,000 or even more at a football match.. to c a c of fans crammed in looks awesome..

[@lunarskyye2680]

I wouldn't say Wembley is as iconic as the Maracana..

[@shane0707]

Wembley way more iconic

[@rodrigorodriguesdelgado.9674]

fact

[@erdnasiul87]

MAKE ESTÁDIO DA LUZ GREAT AGAIN

[@robertstark8527]

I remember running around the old White City stadium on a Wednesday night, with Royal Marines Reserves in 1973 before we moved to Bermondsey Jamaica Road.

[@JoeBambi]

Roker park was estimated to have reached a total attendance of 100,000 against man United in the FA Cup, surprised it doesn’t feature

[@Guipc7]

Careful: Stadium of the Light is Sunderland's stadium, so "Estádio da Luz" or "Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica" remains like that, without translation. "Luz" means "light" but it is also a neighborhood in Lisbon, near the stadium.

[@johnny8416]

i love this channel

[@MrMiD.Life.Crisis]

Wow. Shout out G-TOWN! Also Trivia for you.... Newton wasn't in Grantham when he 'discovered' (or coined the term) gravity. Neither was tree. He was in Woolsthorpe (Woolsthorpe by Colsterworth). The house still stands and i think they reckon the tree is now 400+ years old. Is that even possible? I'm uncertain if the apple made it. Great video again mate. Hope everyone's doing good.

[@massaganaa]

Nice plug for bald and bankrupt. One of my fav channels

[@HITCSevens]

Hopefully he returns the favour!

[@danielfarina4851]

Awesome Bald & Bankrupt reference, but unfortunately this video must be missing some stadiums... Only in Brazil there's two stadiums that fit the criteria to be on that list: Grêmio's old Olímpico Monumental, in Porto Alegre, had a record attendence of 98 thousand, it's closed since 2013 and expected to be demolished soon; and the old public stadium of Salvador city, Fonte Nova, with a record attendence of 110 thousand, was totally demolished in 2010 for the construction of the new Fonte Nova for the 2014 world cup.

[@archstanton6102]

1923 was known as the White Horse Final and the name of the horse was Billie

[@ForkJork]

Hey, this might not be very popular but you should probably look into the Luzenac AP story of their promotion into the second tier of french football and how they weren’t allowed due to their ground being too small. The lawsuit I think was closed not too long ago but the team is now in like the 5th division of french football

[@tomas7110]

Old Estadio da Luz was MASSIVE. Been there many times.. mythical stadium.. BENFICA 💪

[@nigelfoster6151]

Great video. I'm surprised Highbury (Arsenal) didn't make the list.

[@kaiharding7996]

Video idea A the best 11 to play for a microstate

[@benedictwb]

where is the tower athletic ground? new brighton tower played there up until 1901 and then new brighton played there after the second world war until 1977 and it was closed in 1977 and it hosted 100,000 and is now a housing estate

[@FisherAthleticFan]

“A form of genius that’s wasted on this platform but enjoy it while it lasts” Oh Alfie your dry humour and sarcasm needs to last forever 😂😇

[@boarheaded44]

Turkmenistan 3rd tier team of the year 2012-13. Where are they now?

[@guessundheit6494]

It says a lot that the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit (82,000) didn't even make the list. It only use for ~world~ football was the 1994 world cup and warm up games, but it still counts.

[@menzibiyela6662]

Video suggestion: 7 Stadiums with the weirdest designs, and one stadium you can have a look at is the Mmabatho Stadium in South Africa

[@gaznelson8615]

Nice to see Boothferry Park in the intro, now a housing estate

[@giorgioelgar2272]

San Siro to join this list soon

[@RedEagle04]

Saudade eterna do verdadeiro inferno da luz. Benfica.

[@Gabrielm624]

Wow as a QPR fan it’s insane to think that my club once played in the 7th biggest stadium of all time and that I’ve walked through the piece of land where it once was just 20 years before I started going to games hundreds of times without the slightest clue of that, insane! Great video!

[@TheIanhackett]

About the CIS competing at Euro 92

[@aadamasghar4794]

A video on the kroenkes or the glazers

[@razvanmazilu6284]

Honourable mention: Stadionul 23 August (later Stadionul National) in Bucharest. Opened in 1953, the stadium had an official capacity of around 80000, a figure that was often reached and sometimes exceeded at fixtures involving the Romanian national team with some matches having at least 90000 spectators and some sources citing as many as 100000. It was also the venue for the record attendance for a rugby match in Romania, when the national side hosted France in 1957 in front of 100000 fans. However the claim to fame, in terms of attendance, happened on March 16, 1985 and a twin fixture organized during the national league. First Steaua played Rapid, being then followed by Dinamo vs Sportul. Since all four clubs were from Bucharest, this drew a crowd that easily exceeded 100000. Some accounts claim as many as 120000, though that may well be an exaggeration since the exact figure is unknown. What is certain is that the terraces were so full the crowd spilled onto the running track that surrounded the pitch. Some footage can be seen here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hZ3Mm5mIdtt7hdk In the 90s the stadium was converted to an all seater and the capacity dropped to a little over 60000. In the late 2000s the stadium was demolished to make way for a new stadium. I'm proud to say I attended the last match ever played there (a Euro qualifier match vs Albania). At the end of the match an excavator was used to symbolically tear up a few rows of seats before actual demolition work started. The new stadium was opened in 2011 and has a capacity of just over 55000. With this and the state of Romanian football in mind, it's all but certain the days of football matches with 80-100000 fans are long gone.

[@azza0911]

Knew that the Strahov would be number 1...shame it isn't used now for concerts as the sheer scale of it is incredible...

[@NaahBruhX]

Should have mentioned Yuvabharti Stadium (Salt Lake Stadium) of Kolkata, India. Record attendance was almost 132,000. Though after modern renovations, especially the u-17 WC, the actual capacity is way less now. Edit: Did not notice the criteria where the stadium has to be demolished to feature in this list. Sorry, my suggestion doesn't stand. Still, the stadium is home to the fiercest derbies in India, possibly the entire south east Asia. You should look in to doing a story on Mohun Bagan FC who famously defeated the British Army XI in 1911, BAREFOOT. The club has some fascinating history from the colonial times of India.

[@manavarunaravind4290]

Man the kolkata derbys are unreal can't wait it to get ruined by isl those kolkata derbys have so much passion it's insane

[@thebadguy9205]

The Arsenal starting XI and Bench at the first ever game at the Emirates: Where are they now ?

[@TheEvapiiShow]

Retired

[@philipnunn1816]

What about the old Crystal Palace Stadium where the FA cup was held before WW1 and the original home of Crystal Palace FC... ???

[@razvanmazilu6284]

Good call. I read that the 1913 FA Cup final played there had an attendance of some 121000.

[@malakaidelvillar177]

Video idea : The best keeper a player from your club has scored on

[@danielmurphy8262]

A version of this but of stadiums that never came to be (ie largest planed stadiums that never came to exist) like Eircom Park or the Bertie Bowl in Ireland from the early 00’s.

[@joeboygo]

I have an idea for your next video! How about stadiums with the most humiliating football defeats before a hometown crowd? Number one would be the Maracana!

[@alexrunsred526]

amazing to think that every team in the prem has already lost eventhough it took liverpool until february to lose

[@Ese96Agoaye]

8:33 Fun fact: the company that built this stadium is the same company behind Emirates Stadium.

[@ronangray1250]

Isn't that why they look so similar

[@Mikeb1001]

You’d never have guessed from the fact they look identical.

[@BOABModels]

Nice Qi reference! Hard to believe that such a huge stadium would house an attendance of 400 or so...

[@clark1eify]

Celtic Park and Hampden? Both had record crowds of over 100,000

[@coyote2026]

Video idea: Every team to win the European Continental treble with the Europa league/UEFA Cup: Where are they now?

[@dragozardy3111]

I think nobody cares, but I played a set of matches in the Strahov Stadium in October 2014. It still was standing together but now it’s nearly fallen apart and abandoned

[@rodrigorodriguesdelgado.9674]

good, but now the stadium is abandoned 😭

[@laj-xv7ez]

Day 2: Battle of the Red Devils: All time Manchester Untied Squad vs All Time AC Milan Squad

[@abrarmuhtasiim6612]

Video Idea: Mali XI if all eligible players declared for them In addition to current players who represent Mali, like Abdoulaye Diaby and Amadou Haidara, there are those who represented other countries like Ngolo Kante and Ousmane Dembele, both France

[@bbaIIer11]

today was the day I learned Thames AFC was not just DoctorBenjyFM's team

[@TCPH]

5:58 - If i could like this video twice i would 😄😌

[@boo12soccerboy56]

Nice video

[@drpyotr7722]

Actually official matches are played on Strahov stadium. Sparta Prague’s youth and women play their official matches here.

[@jakenh8264]

Bald and Bankrupt x HITC Sevens collab when?!!!

[@gabrielsoliz8563]

A recommendation for a new video: 2020-21 Undefeated teams across all UEFA domestic Leagues (minimum 5 matches played) include probability of them undefeated

[@nicocorbo4153]

Maybe a documentary style video on CD Palestino. It is a touchy political subject, but I believe it warrants recognition.

[@jensonlabrecque2743]

petition for more stadium videos

[@jacko250]

A better video would be “7 BEST football stadiums that no longer exist” or “Most missed stadiums” something along those lines. Worthy contenders for the for me are: Ali Sami Yen - Galatasaray Boleyn Ground - West Ham Estádio da Luz (original) - Benfica Highbury - Arsenal Maine Road - Manchester City Probably loads more that I’ve missed

[@brianalvarenga5909]

I really appreciate that bald and bankrupt reference

[@duartevm8834]

Estádio da luz😍😍

[@Dumptheclutchevo]

I may have missed it, but what about a video of the most successful/famous teams that no longer exist?

[@marcusalford1750]

Hey hitc sevens Can you do top 7 relgious footballers please 👇

[@holnrew]

Yay stadiums

[@johanking8379]

This is interesting

[@yesdiegothomas]

Love the videos, but have to watch at 1.5 speed hahahahah

[@Incuensuocha]

I think the most obvious potential use of the strahov stadium is to build a track and use it for auto racing.

[@skojuzija]

Its a shame that stadiums nowdays dont have so many capacity.

[@huttonpark]

West Ham's Boleyn Ground was situated in the old County Borough of East Ham not West Ham.

[@Cold_Logic]

Seems like every spectator in the Strahov stadium would need binoculars to watch any event there

[@mjc8281]

I went to White City when they had a Speedway team in the late 70s and it must have been a really dreadful venue for football

[@herbertschmerbert]

@HITC Stevens, du sprichst fließend Deutsch? Das ist ja interessant, hätte ich jetzt ehrlich gesagt nicht so wirklich erwartet, nimm's mir nicht übel.

[@kushn1rgusta4]

Make a video on 7 small teams with big stadiums

[@johngalbreath9394]

He's made this one before, definitely worth watching

[@pe4oka]

I thought you'd add Delle Alpi

[@ahornob25]

Maracana ?