Every decade looks different if it comes to football stadiums. The 1920s were one of the most important decades though, as they formed the peak of the first wave of British stadium construction and provided the foundations for the future large stadiums on the European continent. Our article on the magical stadium year 1923 sheds further light on the developments in this decade.
To give you a taste of what football stadiums looked like in those years, we have compiled fifteen photos of different stadiums in the 1920s. Some already existed for several decades, but others had just been newly built.
1. Camp de Les Corts – Barcelona’s new stadium opened in 1922, and was the first in a wave of new Spanish stadiums that were to open in the next two years.
2. Stadio Luigi Ferraris – One of the oldest still existing stadiums in Italy. It had opened in 1911 and by the 1920s already grown into a decently-sized stadium.
3. Taksim Stadium – Istanbul’s community stadium used by all top clubs. Built on the courtyard of a splended building that used to be army barracks.
4. Hampden Park – Europe’s largest football stadium at that time, though it would get expanded even further in the 1930s and break several attendance records.
5. Stadium Metropolitano de Madrid – Atlético’s new stadium in the north of the city, which opened in 1923 and would remain their home until 1966.
6. Wembley Stadium – The crown jewel of English stadiums, though it got almost demolished a few months after it opened in 1923.
7. Het Kasteel – Arguably Holland’s most beautiful stadium at that time. The castle-inspired facade still stands today.
8. Campo de Chamartín – Real Madrid’s first proper stadium, built in 1924 and their home until the Bernabéu was put in its place in 1947.
9. Stamford Bridge – Offered to Fulham, but taken by Chelsea. Stamford Bridge in the 1920s consisted of one covered main stand and a vast open bowl of terraces.
10. Ibrox Stadium – Still without Archibald Leitch’s characteristic red-brick main stand, but already one of Europe’s largest grounds.
11. Waldstadion – The Waldstadion opened in 1925 and started right off by hosting the German title match. Standard playing venue of future tournaments in Germany.
12. Stade Gerland – Built by the city of Lyon to host multiple sports, but it would take another half decade before it became the regular home of Olympique Lyonnais.
13. San Siro – In nothing resembling the stadium of today, San Siro consisted of four separate stands when it opened in 1926.
14. Städtisches Stadion – 1. FC Nürnberg was Germany’s top club in the 1920s and therefore got itself an appropriate home. It already had its characteristic octagonal shape.
15. St James’ Park – By the 1920s, St James’ Park had already been around for fourty years, and slowly developed into a ground with a capacity of 60,000 places.