Flying into London, Looking for Soccer Stadiums

Paul Gerald · Profile
Flying into London, Looking for Soccer Stadiums

If you are lucky enough to fly into London on a clear day and pass over the central part of the city, you are treated to one of the great city views on Earth. You can also see quite a few soccer stadiums, if you know where to look. Here’s a quick guide from Groundhopper Paul.

You can skip ahead to a video I took that shows Chelsea, Fulham, Wembley and the old place at Brentford.

(Revised March 2021, to account for new stadiums at Brentford and Wimbledon)

First, a map of the major stadiums, with Heathrow Airport circled and the rough location of Gatwick indicated. (For copyright purposes, I drew this on a Google Map that shows all the 92 clubs on a map of England.)

map showing major football stadiums around London

The major football stadiums around London.

The easiest way to start, assuming you fly over the northern part of the city (which seems to usually happen), is to look for massive Wembley Stadium  on the north side of town, notable for its giant arch and bright red seats:

aerial view Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium

Bonus points for spotting The Hive, home of Barnet FC, just north of Wembley. Look for a bunch of soccer fields, one with a helicopter pad, and hideous orange seats.

Way up north and west, in the middle of a residential area, you might see the distinctive red and yellow seats at Vicarage Road, home of Watford FC.

aerial view Vicarage Road soccer stadium

Vicarage Road, home of Watford FC (via Football Tripper)

The Emirates, Arsenal’s home, is also on the north side and looks like a big silver oval with a hole on top. It’s massive! Nearby is their old stadium, much of which still exists; it got turned into apartments.

aerial view Emirates soccer stadium

The Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal FC

The New White Hart Lane, home of Tottenham Hotspur, is also in North London, northeast of Wembley and due north of Arsenal. Look for a giant new stadium next to a demolished old one.

Stamford Bridge (Chelsea) is pretty central on the southwest side, next to a big park with a keyhole-shaped structure in it. The blue seats have “Chelsea” on them in all capital letters.

aerial view Stamford Bridge soccer stadium and city

Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge (via the Daily Mail)

Fulham’s Craven Cottage is right on the Thames, west of the center, and usually has something about Florida written on top of it.

aerial view Craven Cottage soccer stadium alongside river and city

Craven Cottage, home of Fulham FC (via the Daily Mail)

Due north of Craven Cottage is QPR’s Loftus Road, a small rectangle with blue seats and two red roofs.

Over on the east side, look for the sprawling Olympic Park and West Ham’s perfectly oval London Stadium, with a bizarre-looking swirly red sculpture next to it.

aerial view London soccer stadium

London Stadium, West Ham’s home (via the Daily Mail)

If you can spot the famous 02 Arena (it looks like a circus tent) on a bend in the Thames east of town, look just to the southeast for Charlton’s The Valley, with CAFC on red seats.

aerial view soccer stadium surrounded by city and river

Charlton’s The Valley (via the Daily Mail)

On the southeast side of the central city, south of the river, look for Millwall’s home; it’s between a railroad junction and a housing project, with THE DEN written in yellow on blue seats.

aerial view Millwall soccer stadium

Millwall’s The Den (via The Daily Mail)

Especially if you’re flying into Gatwick, you should see Selhurst Park, home of Crystal Palace. It’s a rectangle whose sides don’t match; one is huge and flat, one is tall and curved. The seats say EAGLES.

Off to your left as you get lower, you might be able to spot the new AFC Wimbledon stadium, Plough Lane. It’s a perfectly rectangular white roof with three housing towers on one end.

afc wimbledon plough lane arial view

Artist’s rendering of the new Plough Lane at AFC Wimbledon.

On final approach into Heathrow, if coming from over the main city, look for Brentford’s former home, Griffin Park; it’s a white rectangle with THE BEES written on red seats. It’s also been replaced for the 2020-21 season, so I’m not even sure if it’s still there. The new one should be easy to spot, just about a mile away and with a lot of shiny new roof, in the middle of some bigger buildings next to a major roadway.

Very near Brentford — just past it on final approach, actually — is the national rugby stadium, the 82,000-seat Twickenham Stadium. But that’s for another book.


And while we’re at it, here is a video I shot on a glorious day, showing several of the stadiums above. I really wish I had started filming earlier — I took the above pictures of Wembley and Arsenal on the same day — but I did zoom in on Chelsea, Fulham, Wembley (from afar) and Brentford.

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Written By Paul Gerald
Paul Gerald, Owner and Founder of Groundhopper Soccer Guides · Profile
Paul started Groundhopper Soccer Guides as EnglishSoccerGuide.com in 2014. He has been to more than 250 games around the UK and Europe, and he currently lives in Madrid.

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