The Sunderland Stadium of Light is said to have made it onto the shortlist to host the prestigious UEFA Cup Final in 2005.
UEFA’s Executive Committee are due to meet in six weeks’ time on December 10th and 11th, and have to decide which stadium from a list of six in Europe will be handed the honour of hosting the competition final.
Our stadium isn’t the only north-east England venue in contention, as St James’s Park has also made it to the shortlist. There’s a 50% chance of the match being staged in the United Kingdom, with Glasgow’s Hampden Park also being considered, but Portugal has three stadia listed in their country alone.
The full list for consideration by UEFA is:
Stadium of Light, Sunderland (Capacity 48,500)
St James’s Park, Newcastle (Capacity 52,193)
Hampden Park, Glasgow (Capacity 51,000)
Estadio do Dragao, Porto (Capacity 50,000)
Jose Alvado, Lisbon (Capacity 65,000)
Estadio da Luz, Lisbon (Capacity 50,000)