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Elland Road: England consider Leeds United's ground for World Cup warm-up match

By Simon StoneBBC Sport

Last updated on .From the section Englandcomments45

England v Italy at Elland Road in 2002
England last played at Elland Road in March 2002

England are considering playing their final World Cup warm-up game at Leeds' 37,890-capacity Elland Road ground.

Manager Gareth Southgate wants to play two matches, against as yet unnamed opposition, as final preparation for the summer tournament in Russia.

The first will be at Wembley but the second is set to be played away from the national stadium.

England last played at Elland Road in March 2002, when they were beaten 2-1 in a friendly by Italy.

They also drew 3-3 against Sweden there in June 1995 and the stadium was used for three group matches at Euro 96.

Friendly matches against Netherlands in Amsterdam and Italy at Wembley have already been arranged for 23 March and 27 March respectively.

England's Russia 2018 campaign begins against Tunisia on Monday, 18 June (19:00 BST) in Volgograd.

They will then face World Cup debutants Panama in Nizhny Novgorod on 24 June (13:00 BST) before playing Belgium four days later in Kaliningrad (19:00 BST).

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45 comments

  • Comment posted by Stephen Taylor, at 12:55 26 Dec 2017

    Should go around the country anyway.

  • Comment posted by Philosopher Kev, at 13:04 26 Dec 2017

    Good idea. Very good idea in fact. It is ridiculous that all England games are played at Wembley. The regions are just as much a part of England as London is!! So why shouldn't England play a friendly in Leeds? Or Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sunderland, Birmingham, Derby, Bristol etc, where there are suitable grounds?

  • Comment posted by Topgun, at 13:20 26 Dec 2017

    About time, national team football should be shared across the nation thus giving the opportunity for all to support in whatever town they live in.
    The cost of travelling, staying and paying for tickets in the capital city is beyond many.
    At least financially this could help hard pressed people actually watch a game.

  • Comment posted by benny tez, at 13:00 26 Dec 2017

    Beats soulless Wembley,take it round the grounds where proper fans are,not these day trippers down London

  • Comment posted by A-FORCE, at 13:09 26 Dec 2017

    Good. Most friendlies don't merit a 90,000 seater stadium anyway.

  • Comment posted by wedontcarrybottles, at 16:07 26 Dec 2017

    As a Liverpool fan and having been there at least 20 times as an away fan in the 70’, 80’s 90s, Elland Road is by far away my favourite away ground

    Ok, we used to get chased from the greyhound stadium to and from the stadium but so atmospheric once inside.

    Give me this place rather than the souless Old Trafford Emirates or Etihad stadiums

  • Comment posted by Frozen Horse, at 14:02 26 Dec 2017

    Personally I think the national stadium should be in the Midlands to make travel fairer for everyone.

    But it should be a dedicated stadium rather than attached to a club.

    Maybe get NFL or teams from other sports and concerts etc to play there to help pay for it?

    Long term it would make sense with HS2:

    Manchester - Birmingham: 41 mins
    London - Birmingham: 49 mins

  • Comment posted by Mordor Tourism Board, at 13:13 26 Dec 2017

    @7. Posted by benny tez

    I would agree we can't set the bar at 60,000 but I was thinking of grounds in the 42,000 to 55,000 range, like; Anfield, both Manchester stadiums, Villa Park, St James' Park.

    I was surprised Elland Road was now below 40,000 capacity. I remember that ground getting well over that when I was younger.

  • Comment posted by Football Jim, at 16:16 26 Dec 2017

    What about all those poor southern England fans who will need to travel up north?.No regard for them at all.(lol)

  • Comment posted by Jim, at 14:57 26 Dec 2017

    We are the most capital centric country in the world.

    England football teams SHOULD play in different venues around England.

    Equally, national icons such as household cavalry, memorial events, parliament should tour.

    There is life in the uk outside of London. Also, London has probably the lowest number of British citizens compared to population, so these events should be spears around uk

  • Comment posted by Mordor Tourism Board, at 13:01 26 Dec 2017

    I completely agree that England should play their friendlies at different grounds around the country but with England normally getting in excess of 60,000 to friendlies, would it not be better to pick larger grounds for this one off?

  • Comment posted by U15983444, at 19:51 26 Dec 2017

    About time our loyal fans got some recognition. Be great to have England at ER, kids up here don't get the chance normally fair play to Southgate.

  • Comment posted by ChrisMM, at 19:11 26 Dec 2017

    As usual, north of Watford we are expected to be grateful for crumbs off the table.

  • Comment posted by U16660851, at 17:00 26 Dec 2017

    All England games should be played around the country. Sell of Wembley and build affordable(real affordable) homes

  • Comment posted by Surely not, at 15:30 26 Dec 2017

    Germany do not have a national football stadium, they did not spend over a billion on such a thing, they invested in grass roots.

    Their national team play at various locations around their country.

    What do Germany know about football ?

  • Comment posted by Mordor Tourism Board, at 15:20 26 Dec 2017

    @19. Posted by Frozen Horse

    I hadn't realised the capacity dropped below 40,000 when the grounds were changed to all seater. I thought they remained around 40,000-41,000 when they were in the PL.

    I also forgot to mention Stadium of Light at 49,000 as one of the other bigger places outside of London.

  • Comment posted by Bitter and twisted ABUs, at 14:14 26 Dec 2017

    Yaarkshire's finest will be already be practising their booing for the Manchester United players who are unfortunate to be picked that day

  • Comment posted by sg90, at 22:25 26 Dec 2017

    At least there will be atmosphere for a change, not clappers and drums or Mexican waves.

  • Comment posted by sg90, at 22:16 26 Dec 2017

    Imagine going from watching Pablo Hernandez and Samuel Saiz to Jesse Lingard and Jordan Henderson.

  • Comment posted by The Black Pele, at 17:10 26 Dec 2017

    Good. All our best players have been from the north, southerners should stick to going tally hoe governor and being big daft fairies.

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