A FORMER EFL stadium could be left abandoned despite previously being the home to three different clubs.
Kingsmeadow is set to be vacated by Chelsea Women with the team seemingly outgrowing it.
The Kingston-based ground has a capacity of 4,850 with only 2,265 seats.
The venue is usually sold out, which often sees the Blues use Stamford Bridge for one-off games.
This was the case in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to London rivals Arsenal as there was a higher demand for tickets.
Despite the increased interest in the Chelsea Women’s team attendances are still significantly lower than the Gunners.
The North London side play all their home games in the 60,000-capacity Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal Women average a huge 36,450 fans per game which is nearly 30k more than the Blues.
Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor believes that the club should look for a similar solution to their London neighbours.
She said: “Congrats to Arsenal because they are doing an amazing job with their fanbase.
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“That’s probably where every club wants to be.
“A lot of conversations are happening in the background with me, the club’s ownership and CEO Aki [Mandhar].
“We want to move in that direction. It’s important for clubs like Chelsea to have a back-up plan.
“The club is having some really good conversations about the future and the stadium because when you play many games in a season with your men’s team and women’s team, and you play Champions League, sometimes you can have clashes.”
The stadium was used in the EFL during AFC Wimbledon’s rise up into professional football.
It was bought by Chelsea in 2015 and became the home for the Women’s team in 2017.
Kingsmeadow details
Here are some of the details about Kingsmeadow Stadium
- Owner – Chelsea
- Operator – Chelsea
- Capacity – 4,850 (2,265 seated)
- Field size – 110 × 75 yards
- Surface – Grass
CONSTRUCTION
- Built – 1989
- Opened – 1989
The Dons have since moved out and into their modern new home Plough Lane.
It has also been used by the Blues Under-21s side since 2020.
Semi-professional side Kingstonian FC also played at the ground between 1989 and 2017.
But they left the ground and now play at King George’s Field in Tolworth in a groundshare with Corinthian Casuals.
