Last night the wait for West Ham fans was finally over as the curtain was raised at their new home, The London Stadium. The Hammers’ over achievement last season saw the first game come a little sooner than they had imagined. Originally due to be a prestige friendly against Italian Champions Juventus, a Manchester United win in the FA Cup final meant entry into the qualifying rounds of the Europa League was secured and the first game would be down to the luck of the draw.
The original draw placed the home leg to fall on 28 July, with Slovenian side NK Domžale the visitors. However, with this date coming less than a week after the London Anniversary Games it didn’t leave enough time to get the ground ready. A polite request to UEFA later and the games were switched giving enough time for the Olympic Stadium to be changed back to ‘football mode’.
With unfamiliar opposition the club were worried about a small crowd at their opening game. They moved to solve this with low ticket prices and blocking the match being shown on BT Sport. Amongst the fans that came through the turnstiles many a groundhopper, indeed a number from this parish, made up very respectable attendance of 53,914. And we’ll be hearing more about the occasion from one of them shortly.
Did you tick the London Stadium off your 92 last night? If so you can add it to your 92 or if not plan your trip there:
Here’s a few of our favourite tweets from last nights action: