West Ham United FC

West Ham United play in the Premier League at the London Stadium (60,000) in Stratford, east London, England.

The London Stadium was built for the 2012 Olympic Games and converted for football use in 2016. West Ham moved from Upton Park, where they had played since 1904, to the Olympic park. The move was profitable and traumatic in equal measure. Upton Park on a European night, the Chicken Run and the Bobby Moore Stand close to the pitch in the way that new stadiums never are, is remembered by anyone who was there with a vividness that suggests loss. The London Stadium’s athletics track, which places the crowd further from the pitch than Upton Park ever did, is the persistent complaint.

West Ham’s contribution to English football is disproportionate to their trophy cabinet. Bobby Moore captained England to the 1966 World Cup at Wembley, lifting the trophy as the host nation’s captain. Geoff Hurst scored the hat-trick in the final. Martin Peters scored the other goal. Three members of the 1966 England World Cup Final XI played for West Ham. Moore, specifically, is the model for every subsequent English centre-back who has been asked what defending looks like done with intelligence rather than force.

The 2023 Europa Conference League final in Prague, won 2-1 against Fiorentina, was the first major European trophy in the club’s history. Jarrod Bowen scored the winning goal in the 90th minute. David Moyes, who had managed the club across two separate stints, departed at the end of that season.

Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen are the current squad’s most effective players. Mohammed Kudus, signed from Ajax in 2023, provides the directness that the system requires from a wide position.

West Ham play on GMT in winter and BST (UTC+1) in summer. A Saturday 15:00 kickoff at the London Stadium is 16:00 in Accra, 22:00 in Colombo, and 10:00 in New York. Supporters checking London time will find the club on the capital’s standard schedule.