Sport in London

London is the prime and capital city of both England and UK. It has hosted many major international tournaments and has professional teams in different sports.

Football:
In the most popular in the UK and world sport football, London clubs have made great strides. The strongest teams in England have always been "Liverpool" and "Manchester United", Now, the capital has five clubs which are presented in the English Premier League. Here are the clubs :"Arsenal", "Chelsea", "Fulham", " Tottenham Hotspur" and "Queens Park Rangers. "At the moment, "Arsenal" and "Chelsea" are among the strongest clubs in Europe and the world. Wembley Stadium is situated in north-west London, is the national football stadium, and is traditionally the home of the FA Cup Final as well as England's home internationals. The old stadium was closed in 2000 in order to be demolished and completely rebuilt, and the new stadium opened in 2007. The first match on the new stadium was on 19 May between the teams of "Chelsea" and "Manchester United". As well as football matches, Wembley has hosted many other sporting events, including the rugby league Challenge Cup final.

Tennis:
The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, home of the Wimbledon Championships, is in Wimbledon in south London. London is also home to Queen's Club, a prestigious sport club that hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships. There is also the National Tennis Centre recently opened by the Queen in Roehampton.

Rugby Union:
The English national rugby stadium (Twickenham) is in Twickenham. The English national side play their home matches there during the Six Nations Championship. The ground also hosted in 1991 Rugby World Cup final, where Australia defeated England. Twickenham hosts the final of the Anglo-Welsh Cup, and will host the Heineken Cup final in 2012. The stadium also hosts the Varsity Match between Oxford and Cambridge.

Cricket:
Cricket is very well organised and established within London and is the second most popular sport after football. London has two Test cricket grounds: Lord's and The Oval. Lord's is located in the leafy suburb of St John's Wood and is home of The Marylebone Cricket Club. Lord's is also the spiritual home of cricket. The Oval which is situated in Kennington is home of Surrey CCC and hosted the first FA Cup final.

Olympics and Paralympics:

London has hosted the Summer Olympics in 1908 at White City and 1948 at Wembley Stadium. In July 2005 London was chosen to host the Games in 2012, making it the first city in the world to host the Summer Olympics three times. London will host the Paralympics Games in 2012, for the first time.