Select Car Leasing Stadium

The Select Car Leasing Stadium (formally the Madejski Stadium), is a football stadium in Reading and home to Reading FC.

It is the home of Reading Football Club, who play in the EFL Championship. It also provides the finish for the Reading Half Marathon. It is an all-seater bowl stadium with a capacity of 24,161 and is located close to the M4 motorway. The West Stand contains the Millennium Madejski Hotel.

The stadium was opened on 22 August 1998 and replaced Elm Park as Reading's home ground. The stadium was initially named after Reading's chairman Sir John Madejski, and it carried that name for 23 years before being renamed as Select Car Leasing Stadium in 2021 which is sponsored by Select Car Leasing

History

In January 1990, the Taylor Report made all-seater stadiums compulsory in the top two divisions of English football for the 1994-95 season. Having played in the second tier of the English league several times before, Reading were champions of Division Two in 1994, and were promoted to Division One. Reading became subject to the Taylor requirements. Converting Elm Park to an all-seater stadium was not practical, so a location in Smallmead (to the south of the town) was identified as the site for a new stadium. The location of a closed landfill, the site was purchased for £1, on the condition that the team develop the A33 relief road. Construction of the new stadium, which was undertaken by Birse Group, was underway by 1997, and the last competitive match at Elm Park took place on 3 May 1998 against Norwich City, with Reading losing 1–0, having already been relegated to Division Two.

Reading began the 1998–99 season at the Madejski Stadium. It was opened on 22 August 1998 when Luton Town were beaten 3–0 with Grant Brebner having the honour of scoring the first ever goal at the stadium. Plans for the stadium had first been unveiled some three years previously, when chairman John Madejski had decided that Elm Park was unsuitable for redevelopment as an all-seater stadium

This page also has a version in other languages :  Мадейски Стадион (russian)