West Ham United

Football-loving Americans can imagine that the Green Bay Packers dominated in the old days—as they did. But what if they never had Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers, and then moved out of Lambeau Field to some shiny, new, boring stadium next to a mall in the suburbs? All that happened to West Ham, but now a couple of European tours are breathing some life into them.

The club was founded by 1895 (the actual date is vague) by workers at the Thames Ironworks. They had some good years in the 1920s and ’30s, but they were a power in the late 1950s and ’60s. West Ham won the league in 1958, the FA Cup in 1964, lost the final in 1966, and won the (now) Europa League in 1965. When England won the World Cup in 1966 at Wembley, three star players—captain Bobby Moore, Martin Peters (who scored in the final), and Geoff Hurst (who scored the only World Cup final hat trick in history)—were all West Ham players who came up through their youth system. West Ham fans like to claim—sometimes in song—that their club won the World Cup.

They won the FA Cup in 1975 and again in 1980; that was their last major trophy and also the last time a club not in the top division lifted that one. Since 1978, they have switched between the top two divisions 11 times. They won the Championship playoff in 2012 and are now in the Premier League, where in 2022 they finished sixth, good enough for their first European spot since 2016. They went all the way to the semifinals in a magical run that included wins over Sevilla and Lyon before they bowed out to eventual champions Eintracht Frankfurt. This season they have competed in the Europa Conference League and have had a very successful campaign, reaching the final against Fiorentina and winning 2–1 from a goal in the 90th minute. This was West Ham’s first major European trophy since 1965.

The biggest thing to happen in their recent history was leaving their traditional stadium, the Boleyn Ground, aka Upton Park. They played there from 1904 to 2016, but since it held only 35,000 people and the club wanted to grow, they moved to London Stadium after a long argument with the City of London. The Boleyn was one of the great old stadiums in the country, truly intimidating and loud, and without question something was lost in the move. You might even hear fans singing “We Should Have Stayed at the Boleyn.”

The 2022–23 season, though, they put a smile on their faces by winning the Europa Conference League, with a last-minute winner over Italy’s Fiorentina in a final in Prague. That put them into the Europa League for the following season; they made the quarterfinals, where they were knocked out by eventual Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen. Last season they slumped to 14th in the Premier League.

2024–25 SEASON: 14th in Premier League, 3rd Round FA Cup, 3rd Round League Cup

2025–26 SEASON: Premier League (promoted in 2012)

Obviously they don’t care for the other London clubs, especially Chelsea and Tottenham; a shared history of hooliganism doesn’t help. There is an odd rivalry with Sheffield United because of a controversy over a player signing in 2007 that helped West Ham stay up and sent the Blades down.

But it’s the rivalry with Millwall that is strictly personal. Both clubs go back to industrial companies in the East End, so we’re talking about factory workers from the same neighborhood going at it. (You might hear it called the Dockers derby. They don’t mean clothing.) They have played 99 times in 118 years, with Millwall leading in wins, 38-34. They haven’t played since 2012, but the last three times they hooked up, there was fairly widespread fan trouble. This game is at the very top of our groundhopping wish list!

West Ham United Women compete in the Women’s Super League, tier 1 of the pyramid. Home games are at Dagenham & Redbridge Stadium.

West Ham sings one of the most famous, and frankly oddest, songs in all of football, “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles.” Let’s just take a look at the lyrics and imagine that they are supposed to inspire the team to victory:

I’m forever blowing bubbles

Way up in the air

They fly so high

They reach the sky

And like my dreams, they fade and die.

Fortune’s always hiding

I’ve looked everywhere.

I’m forever blowing bubbles,

Pretty bubbles in the air.

United! United! United!

The PA system (which Brits like to call the Tannoy) plays the 1975 FA Cup version with the crowd taking over on “Fortune.” All of this happens with machines cranking out bubbles all over the stadium. So where did it come from? It’s a bit convoluted; it’s an old show tune that arrived at West Ham through a soap commercial, a local schoolboy who tried out with the club, and his creative headmaster.

This whole area used to be London Docklands, the biggest port in the world. Then it was the site of the 2012 Olympics. Now it is Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, known by the locals as Betty Park. It’s one of the largest urban parks in London and has restored wetlands and plenty of open space, as well as some of the Olympic venues. London Stadium was one of those; it held 80,000 for track and field but was reduced for its current use. It is beautiful, large, clean, impressive, and rather unpopular. Some of this is because it isn’t Upton Park, but it’s also a rather sterile place surrounded by concrete and construction with a mall nearby and a bizarro tower next to it. The stadium holds 57,000 in a two-tiered circle; one of the objections is that the stands are so far back from the pitch. Away fans will be in the southwest corner, usually in both tiers, which due to stadium goofiness have a pretty large gap between them.

TOURS: There are several tour options here: basic guided or self-guided tours are £22, guided match-day tours are £35, a VIP match-day tour with a couple of perks is £45, and a tour led by a “legend” that only true Hammers will recognize is £45.

GETTING THERE: There are three train stations for getting there, the main one being Stratford—but not Shakespeare’s Stratford. This station is on the London Overground, Tube (Jubilee and Central lines), and Docklands Light Railway. It’s also next to a big mall called Westfield. By the way, many Brits pronounce mall as in “malware.”

You can also use Stratford International station on the other side of Westfield which is served by trains from St. Pancras station, or Hackney Wick, a smaller station on the other side of the stadium. If you’re arriving early and it’s more convenient for you, use Hackney Wick. But don’t try to leave that way. It’s tiny, it will be crowded, and the trains arriving from Stratford will already be jammed.

To leave, you will probably head for Stratford and be herded along like cattle, since this is how most people leave. To keep people from rushing in all at once, they occasionally stop the flow with big red stop signs then let them go with big green go signs. All very efficient. Expect cattle noises from the crowd.

PUBS: There is notoriously little right around the stadium. Near Stratford station, there are a couple of pubs called The Goldengrove (a Wetherspoon), the Sportsman and Ye Olde Black Bull. Also popular with fans before the game is a Wetherspoon pub called Hamilton Hall near Liverpool Street station, where you can catch an Overground for Stratford.

Close to Hackney Wick, there is a brewery and pizzeria called Crate next door to a cool pub with outdoor seating called Howling Hops. Walking away from the stadium a short way from Hackney Wick gets you to Mason and Company, which has craft beers and Italian food.

GRUB: Aside from those mentioned above, Westfield Mall has a bunch of the usual options. Right next to the tower and stadium is a place called The Last Drop that has beer and food; being so close, it will be mobbed.

AROUND THE GROUND: You will certainly notice the Orbit Tower, a crazy-looking 376-foot structure right next to the stadium. It is officially both a piece of art and a tourist attraction added for the Olympics by then-mayor (and later prime minister) Boris Johnson. (One nickname for the Orbit is “Boris’s Johnson.”) It is also a ride and an observation tower. For £11.50, you can go to the top and look around, and then you can either take the lift back down, walk down the steps, rappel down (which the Brits call abseiling), or take the world’s longest tunnel slide inside the structure.

The park is worth a walk around as well. There are wetlands and arenas, and signs will point you to the spot where the medal platforms stood. Otherwise, unlike their old ground, this area doesn’t offer much to the non-soccer tourist. If you’re curious about the old scene, go to Upton Park on the Tube, check out Queen’s Market and get something from the Arabic world to eat.

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