The Football Association has confirmed the new £800m Wembley Stadium will host this year's FA Cup final on 19 May.
Brent Council has given the stadium a general safety certificate after two successful "ramp up" events.

A community day was staged for 34,000 people and England under-21s faced Italy in front of nearly 56,000 fans.

The FA's chief executive Brian Barwick said: "I'm happy to confirm that the 2007 FA Cup final will be played at Wembley Stadium."

Barwick added: "It's the announcement that a lot of people have been waiting for and is great news for football fans in this country and indeed the world over.

"The Cup final and Wembley Stadium go hand in hand and everybody at the FA is looking forward to a great day."

Wembley Stadium managing director Alex Horne said: "We're delighted with the news and I would like to thank Brent Council for their help during this process.

"We received the keys to the stadium just over a fortnight ago, since then Wembley and the FA's staff have worked incredibly hard to put on two great -*test*-('") events in a very short period of time.

"We realise that there is still some way to go yet and are digesting the feedback we have received in order to ensure that coming to Wembley Stadium is a fantastic experience for fans."

Brent Council chief executive Gareth Daniel said: "We are delighted to be able to hand over this safety certificate, which will allow this 90,000-seat stadium to open, bringing back world-class music and sporting events to Wembley."

The FA also announced that finals of the FA Trophy and the FA Vase will be held at Wembley on 12 and 13 May respectively, at a capped capacity - as part of the build up to the official opening on 19 May.


About bleedin' time too!

thank f*ck for that!!!! it's been a nightmare in Cardiff on the days of matches for the past 6 years... now we just have to worry about Wales internationals - and possibly (allegedly) FA Cup semis being played there...

Suspect the plan for FA Cup semis is to go with Old Trafford/Villa Park, but wouldn't be surprised if Cardiff is used in some capacity.

I kind of hope Cardiff is still used in some capacity, I had great fun with some Southampton fans in the pubs around Cardiff the year they got to the final back in 2003. they were rather jovial despite defeat, and one of their lady fans was extremely... friendly! good days.

anyway, it'll be good to see the final back at Wembley. it's where it should be, tradition can be restored at last

Man Utd vs Watford is at Villa Park and Chelsea vs Tottenham is at Old Trafford.

we're talking about in the future, obviously not this season - due to the fact that the final might still have been at the Millennium stadium, they could hardly book the semis to be there too, could they?

They have done in the past. I went to Cardiff for Arsenal v Blackburn two years ago, and then again for the final against Manc.

Vicky

I hope the play-off finals remain in Cardiff.

Some good friends of mine went to the recent under 21s game there and informed me that the new Wembley isn't as impressive as it looks.

The stairs up to the royal box (if you can call it that) look like they have been made out of scrap metal.

The seats behind the goals are miles away from the pitch even though there isn't a running track around it.

The arch, what is that thing all about? A colossal waste of money according to my mates.

I would still like to go there once just to see for myself but only for an International game.

I wish that was the case! Unfortunately the super Spurs are out and Chelski will meet Blackburn for a fight in Manchester