The world's most iconic stadiums every sports fan should visit

It is a sport with a long history, going back to 1857 when Sheffield FC was founded and became the first football club in the world. In the 168 years since then, the amount of football clubs has only been growing and today there are millions of clubs all over the world. That has sparked a wide range of different football tournaments, from the World Cup to the Euros and national tournaments all over the world. Tournaments must be featured somewhere and this is why a large number of stadiums have been built over the years - some of which have even obtained a legendary status themselves, outside of the football clubs that play there. In this article, we take a look at the most iconic stadiums that every sports fan should visit.

What makes a stadium iconic?

A stadium does not become iconic overnight due to its sheer size or its architectural structure. The status is usually acquired when a stadium has a legendary story attached to it. For example, when Mo Salah destroyed the defense against Manchester City in the 2021/22 season, Anfield was already an impressive stadium in-and-of-itself but the tale of Mo Salah’s heroic play has helped solidify the stadium as a truly iconic stadium.

Add a bunch of screaming fans to the mixture and you have the recipe for an iconic stadium that will go down in history and will be visited for many football seasons to come. Below, we have selected our top 5 of the most iconic stadiums in the world. Others could easily be on this list but there are so many to choose from that we did our best to scale the list down to a total of 5 entries:

Maracanã

In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil you find the legendary Maracanã stadium. It was built in 1950 specifically for the World Cup and was the home of the iconic World Cup final between Brazil and Uruguay - a game that had an attendance of roughly 200,000 people.

Wembley

Located in London, Wembley, built in 1923, has mythical status in English football. It hosted the 1966 World Cup final, the last time England won a trophy. The stadium was demolished in 2003, and a new one opened its doors in 2007.

Camp Nou

In beautiful Barcelona, you can find the home ground of F.C. Barcelona—Camp Nou. With a capacity of almost 100,000, it is the largest stadium in Europe. The stadium has hosted Champions League finals and other international football tournaments.

San Siro

San Siro, also known as Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, was built in 1926 and is the home of AC Milan and Inter Milan. It stands out not only for its striking architectural style but also for the intense derbies between the two biggest clubs in Milan.

Westfalenstadion

Now named Signal Iduna Park, Westfalenstadion is a mythical stadium in Germany and the home of Borussia Dortmund. Especially during the nineties this stadium was the place of intense and memorable games in both German and European football.