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The Britannia Stadium
Full name	The Britannia Stadium
Nickname	The Brit
Built	1997
Opened	1997
Capacity	28,383
Home of	Stoke City F.C.
Pitch size	116 x 72 yards

The Britannia Stadium is the home of Stoke City Football Club. The club had played at the Victoria Ground until 1997 and the move was the brainchild of then-Chief Executive Jez Moxey. The club's manager at this time was Chic Bates.

The new stadium holds 28,383 supporters, with the highest attendance being recorded for the sell out fixture against Everton in their FA Cup 3rd Round tie in 2002. The 'away end' holds a maximum of 4,800 visiting supporters. The cantilever Stadium has four stands, but only one enclosed corner. The first goal in the stadium was scored by Sir Stanley Matthews, the club president.

Contents 1 Future Development 2 Crowd Violence 3 External links 4 References

If Stoke were to gain promotion to the FA Premier League, there are plans to fill in the corner between the Boothen End and the John Smith Stand, to take the grounds capacity over 30,000.

The stadium is built on the former site of Hem Heath colliery. Recently in 2006, work has taken place on the A50 to allow direct access from the eastbound direction, involving the building of a bridge across the road. It is close to the Sideway junction with the A500.

The stadium hosted the 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2004-05 playoff finals for the Conference National.

The stadium has also hosted an U21 international between England and Portugal on 16 April 2002. Portugal won the match 1-0.^[1]

Unfortunately, the stadium has witnessed some of the worst violence amongst any British stadia and after a particularly poor record of spectator violence in 2001-2 the club management has organised safety stewarding, to become one of the safest stadia for spectators. The most prominent offences at the new stadium were the aftermath of 'Stoke vs Man City', 'Stoke vs Millwall', 'Stoke vs Birmingham', and when QPR's keeper Simon Royce was attacked on the pitch by Stoke fans aggravated at the 'easy, easy' chants being directed at the Boothen End. These measures helped to make the least violent crowd/spectator problems for the 2003/4 season.

• The Stadium Guide
• Stoke City guide
• BBC Stoke guide
• Guide from The Oatcake - Stoke City fanzine

Football League Championship venues, 2006-2007

Britannia Stadium | Carrow Road | Deepdale | Elland Road The Hawthorns | Hillsborough | Home Park | Kenilworth Road KC Stadium | Layer Road | Loftus Road | Molineux Stadium Ninian Park | Oakwell Stadium | Portman Road | Pride Park Stadium Ricoh Arena | Roots Hall | Selhurst Park | Stadium of Light St Andrews | St Mary's Stadium | Turf Moor | Walkers Stadium

Coordinates: 52°59′18.09″N, 2°10′31.51″W