<\/p>\n

Key facts<\/h3>\n

Cub: Sheffield United FC | Opening: 1855 | Capacity: 32,609 seats<\/p>\n

History and description<\/h3>\n

Bramall Lane is the oldest stadium in the world still hosting professional football matches.<\/p>\n

It opened on 30 April 1855 as a cricket ground and was in its first 7 years only used for cricket purposes. The first football match at the ground was played on 29 December 1862 when Sheffield FC took on Hallam FC (0-0).<\/p>\n

In the following years the stadium was regularly used for football matches of the local Sheffield teams. It got a permanent occupant in 1889 when Sheffield United was formed and moved into the stadium.<\/p>\n

Bramall Lane also hosted the first ever floodlit football match in 1878. The stadium underwent a series of expansions in the late 1890s when two new stands were built.<\/p>\n

Smaller improvements were made in the decades following, for example roofs were added, and a record attendance was set in 1936 when 68,287 spectators\u00a0attended an FA Cup match between Sheffield United and Leeds.<\/p>\n

In 1966, a new two-tiered Bramall Lane Stand opened, but due to the fact that the ground was still being used for cricket matches, the stadium had a rather odd shape with a pitch about double the width of a standard football pitch. This meant in practice that one side of the stadium was just an empty field with the cricket pavilion in the back.<\/p>\n

This finally changed in 1975 when a new South Stand was built on the cricket pitch. From then on Bramall Lane was a proper football stadium.<\/p>\n

In the early 1990s, Sheffield United started a redevelopment program that would slowly convert Bramall Lane into an all-seater. The works started with the conversion of the Kop Stand into an all-seater, continued with the construction of a new John Street Stand, and were completed in the early 2000s with the construction of stands in two of the four corners.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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(photos of the present Bramall Lane below)<\/p>\n

How to get to Bramall Lane<\/h3>\n

Bramall Lane is located just south of Sheffield city centre. The walk from either Sheffield Rail<\/a> station or the city centre takes 15 minutes at most.<\/p>\n

Frequent direct trains connect Sheffield with London St Pancras Station with a journey time of just over 2 hours. There are also direct connections from cities like Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Address: Bramall Lane, Sheffield S2 4SU<\/p>\n