Tottenham Hotspur has today (Monday) confirmed that its home match against Manchester City will now take place at Wembley on Monday, October 29 amid continued delays with its new stadium.
The match had originally been scheduled to take place on Sunday, October 28. Tottenham said today that there is a possibility that the new stadium will be ready by this point, but the club would not know for certain until much closer to the date of the game.
The club said it has therefore agreed with the Premier League that, in the interests of “clarity and certainty”, the match will be held at Wembley to allow both sets of supporters enough time to make travel arrangements.
Tottenham has also confirmed today that all three of its UEFA Champions League group stage matches – against Barcelona on October 3, PSV Eindhoven on November 6 and Inter Milan on November 28 – will be held at Wembley.
Tottenham confirmed last month that the new stadium would not open on September 15 as originally planned for the Premier League match against Liverpool due to issues relating to the ground’s critical safety systems. This match, along with the game against Cardiff City on October 6, has already been moved to Wembley.
At the time it remained unclear where the match against Manchester City would be held should the new stadium not be ready in time, with Wembley due to host an NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Jacksonville Jaguars on the same day.
However, Tottenham has reached a compromise with the Premier League, the English Football Association and Sky Sports to stage the match at Wembley on Monday, October 29. Tottenham said that it would refund its season ticket holders for this match with 1/19th of their new stadium season ticket price.
Fans will also be able to purchase tickets for the Manchester City match, which is a Category A fixture, at Category B prices due to the “extraordinary” circumstances of the late change.
Today’s news represents another blow for Tottenham, which last week applied for special dispensation to play the September 24 Carabao Cup match against Watford at Stadium MK in Milton Keynes. Wembley is unavailable during that week, leaving Tottenham with a hosting dilemma.
Stadium MK is the home of League Two football club MK Dons. The board of the English Football League will meet this week to consider Tottenham’s request.
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