Tottenham have confirmed they will leave White Hart Lane at the end of the season and spend the 2017-18 campaign at Wembley while their new 61,000-seat stadium is being completed.
The club said in a tweet: “We can confirm that, following a Board meeting today, we’ve taken the decision to activate our option with Wembley National Stadium Limited. We’ll play all our home games at @WembleyStadium for the 2017/18 season whilst we complete the construction of our new stadium development.”
Sunday’s game against Arsenal will be the final north London derby at White Hart Lane and the last match at the stadium will come against Manchester United on May 14th.
Tottenham’s chairman, Daniel Levy, said in a statement: “This marks a momentous day in our club’s history as it is the day we formally agreed the demolition of our beloved White Hart Lane. The Lane means a huge amount to each and every one of us and we needed to gain greater certainty on the delivery of the new stadium before we made the final decision to commence with the decommissioning of our iconic, historic home for some 118 years. We shall ensure that we give the Lane a fitting farewell when we play our last match here on May 14.
“Wembley will be our home for a season and then we shall return to what will be one of the best stadiums of its kind and the most unique in the world playing host to NFL games too – a stadium that will be key to our future growth and success. Both on and off the pitch this is an incredibly exciting time in the history of our club.”
Tottenham have played their Champions League and Europa League matches at Wembley this season, winning only one of those four games. They were beaten there by Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final this month.
(Guardian service)
