London football geography

The geography of London football

From the mammoths in the middle to the minnows on the margins

The seventh edition of Hidden London’s football map shows the ground locations for all the London clubs in the top six tiers of the English game for the 2018–19 season. The weight of the type and the density of the yellow circles indicate hierarchical status, from the Premier League clubs to those in the National League South (formerly Conference South). The map also shows the location of Wembley Stadium – the home of cup finals and England games, for the time being at least.

The map reflects the following changes from the 2017–18 season:

• After playing their home games at Wembley for nearly two seasons, Tottenham Hotspur have moved into a state-of-the-art stadium adjacent to their old ground at White Hart Lane.
• Fulham won promotion to the Premier League with a 1–0 victory over Aston Villa in the Championship play-off final.
• Barnet were relegated from the Football League on goal difference on the final day of the season, leaving League Two without a London repres­ent­ative.
• Dulwich Hamlet won the Isthmian (Bostik) League premier division play-off final to secure promotion to the National League South.

Future devel­op­ments

Chelsea might have been playing at Wembley stadium (or maybe Twickenham) this season – and the following two or three – if planning permission had been granted sooner for the redevel­opment of their ground at an estimated cost of £1bn. Instead, the project has been put on hold following Roman Abramovich’s departure from London.

Work continues on the construction of a new stadium for Brentford FC, one kilometre east of the club’s present home at Griffin Park. The Brentford Community Stadium is due for completion in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Millwall FC have a lease on their ground that will last until 24 June 2143, yet there are doubts regarding the club’s future here, owing to the redevel­opment of the surrounding area.

AFC Wimbledon hope to move into their new home at their historic address – Plough Lane – in time for the start of the 2019–20 season.

Dulwichers’ travails

In 2014 property developers bought Dulwich Hamlet’s Champion Hill ground, proclaiming a new era for the football club in a stylish stadium that would be at the heart of a neigh­bouring resid­ential devel­opment. But in March 2018 the developers ejected the Hamlet from their home – and briefly even tried to stop them using their own name. Thereafter the club played home games at Tooting & Mitcham United’s Imperial Fields ground but on 22 October an agreement was reached and the Hamlet returned to Champion Hill on Boxing Day, when a record crowd of 3002 saw them beat Eastbourne Borough 2–1. The map above shows the location of both Champion Hill and Imperial Fields.

These are the 20 London clubs mapped above, listed alpha­bet­ically within each division:

Playing in the Premier League in 2018–19, for the fourth consec­utive season, Watford football club is based at the Vicarage Road stadium, which is located two-and-a-half miles (4km) beyond the north-west edge of Greater London.

See also: Premier League supporters’ pub map – London and Travel time isochron maps to London football stadiums