Watching games live in stadiums is one of the great pleasures of being an avid football fan. The thrills and agonies of watching famous players on the field attract millions of spectators to football grounds around the world – for example, 15 million fans attended live Premier League games in 2022.
Yet even if you don’t have tickets to a match, simply visiting some of football’s most famous stadiums is a rewarding experience. With this in mind, we’ve listed four football grounds we think every fan should visit in their lifetime.
The official name of this iconic Brazilian stadium is ‘Estádio Mário Filho’, named after a beloved sports journalist. But to most fans, it’s known for being located in the Maracanãneighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro, with which it shares its colloquial name. It was first built as the official stadium of the 1950 World Cup.
In 1963, it cemented its place as one of the world’s most famous football grounds when it sold a record-breaking177,656 tickets for a match between Flamengo and Fluminese. It also hosted seven matches of the 2014 World Cup, including the final between Germany and Argentina (1-0).
Nowadays, it hosts matches between all the major football clubs in Rio, including Fluminese, Flamengo, Botafogo and Vasco de Gama.
This British stadium is the home of Liverpool FC, whose combined total of six European Cup and Champions League trophies make them the most successful team in European football tournament history.
Anfield offers visitors guided stadium tours. During these, you can:
FC Barcelona is deservingly one of the most famous football teams in the world. The Spanish club’s home stadium is the fourth largest in the world, with a staggering seating capacity of 99,354.
Camp Nou also offers guided tours in which you can visit the locker team’s locker rooms, walk through the tunnel, and even stand on the same turf as legendary Barcelona players likeMessi, Ronaldinho and Maradona.
Seating 49,000 spectators and home to Club Atlético Boca Juniors, this special stadium is located in La Boca, a picturesque neighbourhood of Buenos Aires.
The Argentinian stadium gets its better-known name from its unusual D shape and steep sides, which make it resemble a local ‘chocolate box’. Its official name is the ‘Estadio Alberto J. Armando’, in memory of the club president under whose leadership Boca Juniors first gained international recognition.
Thanks to La Bombanera’s peculiar shape, spectators experience incredible acoustics during football matches –making this one of the most unique stadiums you could visit.
There are so many famous football grounds that are worth seeing. So, if you’re struggling to decide which to visit next, why not choose one of the stadiums we’ve listed above?
