New Wembley opens doors

The venue for the 2007 Carnegie Challenge Cup will require safety certification before it can stage either that event on the August Bank Holiday weekend, or soccer’s FA Cup final in May.

Visitors to the stadium were asked to test turnstiles, escalators, seats and even to flush toilets at the same time to ensure that the £757m is up to scratch, and a soccer match was held on the new turf.

Wembley Stadium managing director Alex Horne said it was the first step towards gaining the safety certificate needed to host the major events such as the Challenge Cup final.

"We still remain on track to host the 2007 FA Cup final," he said. "But the FA will only announce the 2007 Cup final at Wembley once the stadium has been granted its general safety certificate."

The first game held at the 90,000 capacity stadium will be a soccer international between England u21s and Italy u21s on 24th of March, with the Challenge Cup final returning to Wembley on August 25th.