where was the fa cup final played before wembley
FA Cup Final After the 1873 final was held at Lillie Bridge, the event was held at the Oval until 1892. The 1893 and 1894 finals were respectively held at Fallowfield Stadium in Manchester and Goodison Park in Liverpool, before the event returned to London in 1895, being held at Crystal Palace until the outbreak of World War I. After the war, the event was held at Stamford Bridge, before Wembley Stadium opened in 1923. The first final at Wembley, in which Bolton Wanderers beat West Ham United 2â€“0, had an official attendance of 126,047, although the actual figure is believed to be as much as 300,000.
FA Cup semi-finals In 2003, it was announced that all future semi-finals would be played at the new Wembley Stadium, once it had opened;[1] this took effect in 2008. The decision was mainly for financial reasons, to allow the FA to recoup some of the costs of rebuilding the stadium. However, the move was to the disappointment of traditionalists and drew criticism from some supporters' groups.[2][3]