Riverside Stadium

The Riverside Stadium is a football stadium in Middlesbrough, England. The stadium is the homeground of Middlesbrough F.C. since its opening. Its present capacity is 34,742 all seated. There is provisional permission to expand the stadium to 42,000 if it is needed.
History.
The stadium was built in 1994/95. It replaced Ayresome Park. After the Taylor Report from 1990 all top league clubs must have all seater stadiums. Because the space was limited to enlarge Ayresome Park the club decided to built a new stadium. This stadium was built in only 32 weeks on the Middlehaven site by the River Tees.
The building had 30 000 seats but was enlarged to its present capacity in 1998. 4 900 seats were built in the north and west corners. 
International matches.
During the construction of the new Wembley stadium the English nationalteam toured the country. The Riverside was chosen to host the Euro 2004 qualifying match against Slovakia on 11 June 2003. But also some U21 matches were held.