The bet365 Stadium (former Britannia Stadium) is home to Stoke City Football Club and was opened officially on the 30th August 1997. It cost £14.7 million and was a replacement for The Victoria Ground, the stadium that Stoke had called home since 1878.
Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863 the club changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke-on-Trent was granted city status. They are the second-oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts County, and are one of the founding members of the Football League. (
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Bet365 Stadium Stats
Year Opened - 1997
Capacity - 2017/18: 30,089
Average Attendance - 27,446
Record Attendance - 28,214 (Stoke v Everton (2002))
Pitch Size - 105m x 68m
Former Name - Britannia Stadium
Owner - Stoke City
Sponsor - bet365
First Fixture - Stoke v Rochdale (27/08/1997)
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"The all-seater stadium cost nearly £15,000,000 to build and brought the Club up to standards set out in the Taylor Report following 119 years at the Victoria Ground.
The first sod from the land, formerly owned by the National Coal Board and operated as Hem Heath Colliery until its closure in the early 1990s, was cut in the late autumn of 1996.
By early 1997, the skeletal steel superstructure was in place and the stadium began to take shape.
Later that year, it opened its doors for the first time as the Britannia Stadium thanks to a £1m, 10-year sponsorship deal with the Britannia Building Society which was instrumental in the overall funding of the project.
Another £3m was given as a grant by the Football Trust.
Rochdale were the visitors for the historic first-ever competitive match on 27th August - a 1-1 draw in the Worthington Cup watched by 15,439 - and four days later the first-ever League game took place against Swindon Town before a crowd of 23,859 in party mood.
Ten years on the Club obtained full ownership of the stadium in a deal worth £6m following the previous joint-partnership with Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Stoke-on-Trent Regeneration Ltd." Source: Stoke City Website. (
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"There are tributes around the stadium for Stoke City legend Sir Stanley Matthews, with statues depicting three stages of The Wizard of Dribble's career located behind the Boothen End.
Sir Stanley died in February 2000 and his ashes were buried underneath the centre circle of the bet365 Stadium pitch." Source: (
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