Spurs to play Champions League matches at Wembley

By Ken Ferris

LONDON (Reuters) - Tottenham Hotspur have reached agreement with the FA to host Champions League games at Wembley next season with an option to use the national stadium for all matches in the 2017-18 campaign while they are building a new ground.

"Having Tottenham at Wembley for big European nights next season is a welcome opportunity for us to further the stadium’s position as a world-class venue," FA chief executive Martin Glenn said in a joint statement with Spurs on Saturday.

Tottenham are redeveloping White Hart Lane by building a 400 million pounds ($584.92 million) 61,000-seater stadium next to their existing ground and will have a reduced capacity next term as a result. They will use Wembley to meet UEFA requirements.

"Given the current reduction in capacity at White Hart Lane for next season and the ticketing requirements for (the) Champions League, playing at Wembley will mean that we can continue to accommodate all of our existing season ticket holders," Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy said.

"Our season ticket waiting list is over 50,000 so this now also offers us a great opportunity to provide more of our supporters with a chance to see the team play live during our Champions League campaign.

"Importantly, as we know it was our fans' preference, it means that we can continue to play our home matches in London during our season away," Levy added on the FA website (www.thefa.com).

Spurs are aiming to open their new stadium for the 2018-19 campaign but will have to leave White Hart Lane for the previous season to complete the latter stages of the development.

They finished third in the Premier League last term which put them in the group stage of next season's Champions League so they will play at least three European matches at Wembley, which has a seating capacity of 90,000 for soccer matches.

Tottenham's north London rivals Arsenal played Champions League games at Wembley during the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 while they moved from Highbury to The Emirates Stadium.

"As well as helping the club and its fans, it will benefit London and English football in general with our commitment to re-investing all profits back into the game," Glenn added.

"The increased revenue will particularly help us meet our targets for improving coaching and grassroots facilities and growing participation.

"We were already on a strong financial footing, which allowed us to reinvest 117 million pounds back into the game at all levels last season."

($1 = 0.6839 pounds)

(Editing by John O'Brien)