A Guide to the Emirates Stadium

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Published by Chris Jenkins
11th Apr 2023
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The famous Emirates Stadium is the home of Arsenal Football Club seating over 60,000 people in its stands, replacing the former Highbury Stadium as the club grew beyond its limitations.

Arsenal is one of the largest and most successful clubs in world football, let alone England, making the Emirates a cultural landmark for many football fans who venture over to London.

Since Arsenal is such a world-renowned club, there may be many people who are not familiar with the surrounding area or even the stadium itself so throughout this post, we will be giving a guide to the Emirates stadium, providing a comprehensive overview of everything from catering and hospitality to stadium tours and ticket prices.

 

History of the Emirates

The Emirates Stadium took over the mantle of being the home ground of Arsenal FC from the aforementioned Highbury stadium after its completion in 2006 during a great boom period for the club.

Due to the rapid expansion of the club in the early 2000s from the great success of players such as Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp, Arsenal needed a much larger stadium to correspond with their vast success in recent years.

While plans were discussed to move into the incredibly prestigious Wembley Stadium in the late 1990s, the final decision was made in 2004 to begin construction of a brand new stadium just a few hundred yards from Highbury.

The first match that was ever hosted in the stadium was a testimonial match for Arsenal legend Dennis Bergkamp between Arsenal and Ajax sides respectively.

 

How to Get to the Emirates

The Emirates is located in Islington in North London and is fairly easy to get to on most forms of transport if you are situated in and around the London area, whether you’re just visiting or living there.

One option you can use is the underground tube, the nearest station to the stadium being Arsenal on the Picadilly line however this station is only active on match days.

There are some alternative stations you can go to at the expense of walking slightly further to reach the stadium including Finsbury Park, available on both the Picadilly and Victoria lines and Highbury & Islington Station which you can access through the Victoria line.

Both of these stations are roughly a ten-minute walk from the stadium making it very accessible to everyone in the area.

If the tube is not ideal, then you can also get a train to kings cross station, which is just two miles away from the Emirates making this a relatively short walk to get there.

 

Buying Tickets

One of the main questions that Arsenal fans will be asking is how much will tickets for an Arsenal match cost. This will entirely depend on the type of game that you’re looking to attend.

For example, in the Premier League, Premier League tickets are some of the most sparse in the whole league due to the sheer number of people looking to experience the Emirates on matchday.

 

Food and Drink

When you have reached the stadium on a matchday, there are plenty of local pubs, cafes and restaurants along Holloway Road and Highbury Park Road for you to try out before you enter.

Even when deciding to finally enter, there are plenty of different food stands and shops on the inside that you can visit selling all kinds of food that you can eat before, during and after the games.

Attempting a full 90 minutes without any food or drink is not something that most would prefer which is why their great hospitality is so important to the happiness of the fans.

Fans will also have the opportunity to use the Emirates’ “VIP box” for a luxury, personalised experience at a higher cost than that of the regular seating.

This will give you a great view of the pitch, offer you some high-brow catering and allow you to bring several friends and family to enjoy the experience with you.

 

Stadium Tours

For travelling Arsenal fans, perhaps from abroad or another area of the country, there are opportunities for you to have a look around the stadium and at the great history of the club in the various stadium tours and the Arsenal Museum.

You will have the opportunity to walk around the stadium at your leisure, walking at your own pace accompanied by an audio guide that will be able to walk you through all of the exhibits that they have on offer, you’ll be discovering the history of the club from the perspective of a fan.

These tours are a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Arsenal fans who may live abroad and want to have the opportunity to look around the stadium of their favourite club.

 

Miscellaneous Uses

Along with all of the great areas around the ground that are perfect for matchdays and stadium tours in between, the stadium itself can be used for a multitude of different things beyond these uses.

One such thing that the Emirates is often utilised for is frequent concerts and venues for artists to perform, a growing theme in football stadiums across the UK with Wembley, Anfield and Stamford Bridge hosting some of the biggest artists in the world in recent years.

The Emirates has been host to a great number of musical artists in London with some great upcoming concerts including Arctic Monkeys, The Killers and Sam Fender to name a few.

This has expanded the horizons for the stadium as it has allowed for greater publicity and money for the club with the owners perfectly utilising the strengths of the stadium to its fullest.

 

Conclusion

To conclude, the Emirates Stadium is a staple in modern football and has been the setting of many wonderful years for Arsenal Football Club.

Being such a large club means that the Emirates must be accommodating to all, welcoming people from all over the world from all walks of life.

We hope that we have been able to inform you of some of the key aspects of the stadium and what you can expect when attending.