Sport in London

London hosts one of the world’s largest mass-participation marathons, the London Marathon, and has hosted the Olympic Games in 1908 and 1948. In July 2005 London was chosen to host the Games in 2012. London will be the first city in the world to host the Summer Olympics three times. The most popular spectator sport in London is football, and London has several of England’s leading football clubs.

Historically the London clubs have not accumulated as many trophies as those from the North West of England, such as Liverpool and Manchester United, but at present Arsenal, and Chelsea are regarded as two of the Premier League’s «Big three» alongside Manchester United. In 2003-04 they became the first pair of London clubs to finish first and second in the top flight, with Arsenal winning. In 2004-05 they did so again, this time with Chelsea winning.

There are also five London clubs in the fully professional Football League (the level below the Premiership). There are also numerous London clubs playing outside the top four divisions of English football, one or two of which are fully professional and many of which are part-time professional. Wembley Stadium in north-west London is the national football stadium, traditionally the home of the FA Cup Final as well as England national side’s home matches.

Currently, Wembley is being completely rebuilt, so Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium has been the venue* for recent FA Cup finals, while England plays at various venues around the country. Wembley was one of the venues for the 1966 World Cup, and the 1996 European Championship, and hosted the final of both tournaments. As well as football matches, Wembley has hosted many other sporting events, including the Rugby League Challenge Cup final.

Rugby Union is also well established in London, especially in the middle-class suburbs to the north and west of the city. The English national Rugby Union stadium is in Twickenham. Three of the twelve clubs in the elite Guinness Premiership have London origins.

There are also London teams in the top-flight British leagues in ice hockey (London Racers) and basketball (London Towers), but neither of these sports draws nearly the large number of spectators that football and rugby union do. There are two Test cricket grounds: Lord’s, home of Middlesex and the Marylebone Cricket Club. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, home of the Wimbledon Championships, is in Wimbledon in South West London.

* место совершения действия

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