Football and other sports in London

London is a city that thrives in a variety of sporting activities. London has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in three separate occasions; in 1908; 1948 and 2012 respectively. London is the only city which has hosted the Olympic Games three times. London also hosted the British Empire Games in 1934.

Football is London’s most popular sport and the city has fourteen League football clubs. Six of these fourteen are in the English premier league, comprising Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Queens Park Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur, and West Ham United. In May 2012, Chelsea became the first London club to win the UEFA Champions League.

London also have five rugby union teams in the Aviva Premiership. These are, London Irish, Saracens, Wasps, London Welsh and Harlequins; although only Harlequins and Saracens play in London, since all others now play outside of Greater London. The other professional union team in the city is RFU Championship club, London Scottish, which plays home matches in the city. Traditional rugby union clubs can also be found in the city, most prominently, the Richmond F.C., Rosslyn Park F.C., Westcombe Park R.F.C. and Blackheath F.C.

From 1924, the original Wembley Stadium was the home of the English National football team, and served as the venue for the English Football Association’s cup final, as well as rugby league’s Challenge Cup final. The highly renovated Wembley Stadium serves exactly the same purpose today, and has a spectator capacity of 90,000. Twickenham Stadium in South-West London is the National Rugby Union’s stadium, and has a capacity of 84,000, since the new south stand has been completed.

Cricket matches in London are hosted by Test cricket grounds which comprise Lord’s (home of Middlesex C.C.C in St John’s Wood and the Oval (home of Surry C.C.C) in Kennington. Lord’s has hosted four finals of the Cricket World Cup.

One of London’s most prominent annual sporting competition is the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, which is held at the All England Club in the South-Western suburb of Wimbledon, which sees a convergence of tennis talents from around the world. Other principal sporting events are the London Marathon and the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race on the River Thames, between Putney and Mortlake. The London Commuter Belt contains many internationally recognised golf courses; such as the Wentworth Golf Club and the Sunningdale Gold Club.

All these said, football remains the most popular sport activity in London, with football fans always seen displaying great euphoria for their clubs.

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