Capacity at Wembley Stadium increased to a record 96k for Riyadh Season Card boxing event

A sell-out crowd would set a record for a boxing event in the UK and post-war Europe, beating the 94,000 who saw Tyson Fury defeat Dillian Whyte at Wembley in April 2022, pictured. (AFP/File Photo)
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Updated 29 August 2024
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Capacity at Wembley Stadium increased to a record 96k for Riyadh Season Card boxing event

  • The original 94,000 tickets for the event in London sold out last week and organizers applied successfully to increase the crowd size
  • A sell-out crowd would set a record for a boxing event in the UK and post-war Europe, beating the 94,000 who saw Tyson Fury defeat Dillian Whyte at Wembley in April 2022

LONDON: Approval has been granted for crowd capacity at Wembley Stadium to be increased to a record 96,000 for the Riyadh Season Card — Wembley Edition boxing event next month.

In the headline bout on Sept. 21, two-time former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will take on champion Daniel Dubois for the International Boxing Federation world heavyweight title.

General admission tickets for what will be the first Riyadh Season boxing event held in London sold out last week, based on the original event capacity of 94,000, but now that organizers have received the green light to increase capacity at England’s national stadium, additional tickets will go on sale on Friday at 12 noon, UK time, on Ticketmaster.com.

A sell-out crowd of 96,000 fans at the London stadium would set a record in the UK and post-war Europe for a boxing event, surpassing the 94,000 who watched Tyson Fury knock out Dillian Whyte at the same venue in April 2022.

The Riyadh Season Card event in London features six all-British bouts. Musical entertainment will be provided by Liam Gallagher in his first live performance since the announcement this week that he and his brother Noel will embark on an Oasis reunion tour in 2025.

The rebuilt Wembley stadium opened in 2007 on the site of the original stadium. For football matches, it has an official capacity of 90,000, and the record attendance is 89,874 for the 2008 FA Cup final in which Portsmouth defeated Cardiff City 1-0. The largest crowd at an event of any kind at the stadium was 98,000 at an Adele concert in June 2017.

The record attendance at the old Wembley Stadium was 126,047, when Bolton Wanderers beat West Ham United 2-0 in the 1923 FA Cup final.


Norway’s Carlsen wins first FIDE Freestyle World Chess Championship

Updated 16 February 2026
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Norway’s Carlsen wins first FIDE Freestyle World Chess Championship

Norway’s Magnus Carlsen added ‌another crown to his collection on Sunday by becoming the first official FIDE Freestyle Chess world champion after ​a comeback win over Fabiano Caruana in Germany.
The chess master secured the title with a cautious draw in the fourth and final game, clinching a 2.5–1.5 match victory against his 33-year-old American opponent in Weissenhaus.
Sunday’s turning point came in the thrilling third game, in ‌which Carlsen, ‌35, pulled off a stunning ​win ‌from ⁠a ​seemingly lost ⁠position, swinging the entire contest in his favor.
The world number one only needed a draw in the decisive fourth game, and that’s exactly what he got in an equal endgame, with Caruana missing late opportunities to mount a ⁠comeback.
Carlsen has now won 21 world ‌titles in various formats.

 

The ‌World Championship marked a breakthrough ​collaboration between FIDE and ‌private organizer Freestyle Chess, staging the first ‌officially recognized title in this format.
Carlsen had previously failed to capture the FIDE Fischer Random World Championship, making this victory particularly sweet for the chess great.
In ‌the bronze medal match, Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov beat Germany’s Vincent Keymer, securing ⁠his spot ⁠by drawing from a winning position in the final game.
Both finalists and Abdusattorov have qualified for next year’s championship.
The tournament’s lower placings saw Hans Niemann of the United States take fifth with a 2-0 victory over India’s Arjun Erigaisi, while Armenia’s Levon Aronian won his Armageddon game against Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov for seventh place.
In the women’s exhibition match, Kazakhstan’s ​Bibisara Assaubayeva prevailed over ​Switzerland’s Alexandra Kosteniuk after their final encounter ended in a draw.