Qualla: Emirates Stadium https://qualla.com/emirates-stadium en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:14 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/emirates-stadium-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Emirates Stadium https://qualla.com/emirates-stadium Emirates Stadium: Introduction https://qualla.com/emirates-stadium/ Photo credit Ronnie Macdonald, CC BY 2.0. The site in Ashburton Grove was a rubbish processing plant and industrial estate when Arsenal identified it in 1999. It was 450 metres from Highbury — close enough to walk from the old ground to the new one — and 80 percent of it was owned by Islington Council, Railtrack, and Sainsbury's. What it was not, in any meaningful sense, was a place people wanted a football stadium. The local campaign against the scheme was fierce. A poll conducted seven months after the planning application was submitted found that 75 percent of nearby residents opposed it. Arsenal built it anyway, at a cost of £390 million, without a single pound of public subsidy.

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Image: Ronnie Macdonald | CC BY 2.0

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/emirates-stadium-wp/gcpv-emirates-stadium-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Emirates Stadium: The Decision That Changed Everything https://qualla.com/emirates-stadium/ Photo credit Ank kumar, CC BY-SA 4.0. Arsenal's home since 1913 had been Highbury, a beautiful stadium with a genuine art deco East Stand granted Grade II listed status in 1997. That listing effectively ended any possibility of meaningful expansion — the historic protection made it impossible to rebuild the stands th...

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Image: Ank kumar | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/emirates-stadium-wp/gcpv-emirates-stadium-the-decision-that-changed-everything.mp3 0:06 2 full Emirates Stadium: The Price of the Ground https://qualla.com/emirates-stadium/ Photo credit user:Edward, Public domain. Arsenal received no government support. Wenger was blunt about the contrast: French clubs paid nothing for their stadiums, he said, and Bayern Munich had paid one euro for theirs. Arsenal paid market rate in one of London's most expensive areas. The club serviced the debt by sell...

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]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/emirates-stadium-wp/gcpv-emirates-stadium-the-price-of-the-ground.mp3 0:06 3 full Emirates Stadium: Arsenalisation https://qualla.com/emirates-stadium/ Photo credit geo sharples, CC BY-SA 2.0. From 2009, the club began what it called an 'Arsenalisation' of the stadium — an effort to restore visible links to Arsenal's history in a building that, at first, felt impersonal compared to the marble halls of Highbury. Eight large murals on the exterior depict 32 legends arran...

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Image: geo sharples | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/emirates-stadium-wp/gcpv-emirates-stadium-arsenalisation.mp3 0:06 4 full Emirates Stadium: Opening Night and the Royal Visit https://qualla.com/emirates-stadium/ Photo credit Public domain. The stadium was officially opened by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on 26 October 2006. Queen Elizabeth II had suffered a back injury and was unable to attend. Prince Philip quipped to the crowd that while they might not have his wife, they did have 'the second-most experience...

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]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/emirates-stadium-wp/gcpv-emirates-stadium-opening-night-and-the-royal-visit.mp3 0:06 5 full