Loftus Road, currently known as MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Shepherd's Bush, West London, Greater London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers Football Club, with a capacity of 18,439.
In 1981, it became the first stadium in British professional football to have an artificial pitch of Omniturf installed. This remained in use until 1988, after which a natural grass pitch was reintroduced.
Rugby union team London Wasps shared the ground with QPR between 1996 and 2002 and Premier League football club Fulham shared it from 2002 to 2004 while Craven Cottage was closed for reconstruction. AFC Wimbledon started the 2020–2021 season sharing the ground while they waited for their new stadium in Merton to be finished. Other users of the stadium have included the Jamaican and Australian national football teams. In 1985, Barry McGuigan defeated Eusebio Pedroza for the World Boxing Association featherweight championship at the stadium.
On 7 June 2019, the club gifted the naming rights to the stadium to The Kiyan Prince Foundation, a charity set up in honour of former QPR youth player Kiyan Prince, resulting in the stadium becoming known as the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium. On 25 May 2022, the club announced that the stadium name would revert to Loftus Road ahead of the 2022–23 season.
On 26 October 2023, the club announced that it had signed a three-year agreement to sell the naming rights of the stadium to MATRADE; thus Loftus Road will be known as the "MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium" until the 2025–26 season.
History
The ground was first used on 11 October 1904 by Shepherd's Bush, an amateur side that was disbanded during the First World War. QPR moved to Loftus Road in 1917, having had their ground at Park Royal commandeered by the army in February 1915. At that time the ground was an open field with a pavilion. One stand from Park Royal was dismantled and re-erected in 1919, forming the Ellerslie Road stand. This stand was the only covered seating in the ground until 1968 and was replaced in 1972. It had a capacity of 2,950.
QPR moved out of Loftus Road at the start of the 1931–32 season, moving to nearby White City Stadium, but after a loss of £7,000, the team moved back for the start of the 1933–34 season. The covered section of the terracing was concreted at that time; the uncovered section was concreted in 1945.
In April 1948, after winning the Third Division (South) championship, the club bought the freehold of the stadium plus 39 houses in Loftus Road and Ellerslie Road for £26,250, financed by a share flotation that raised £30,000. When the club's finances were under pressure in the late 1950s the houses had to be sold. On 5 October 1953 floodlights were used at Loftus Road for the first time for a friendly game against Arsenal. In summer 1966 the original floodlights were replaced by much taller floodlight pylons. In summer 1980 these in turn were replaced with new floodlights.
QPR experimented once again with a move to White City Stadium in the 1962–63 season, but moved back to Loftus Road once more after less than one full season. In the summer of 1968 the South Africa Road stand was constructed at a cost of £150,000 to replace the old open terracing. The surface was not favoured by everyone, with QPR keeper Peter Hucker describing it as "basically a bit of carpet over two feet of concrete", and stated that as a goalkeeper, he strongly disliked diving onto it saying that "I'd have close to third degree burns because the pitch would totally rip the skin off."
thumb|left|Loftus Road Stadium, South Africa Road entrance in 2008
New stands were opened at the School End in the summer of 1980 and one year later at the Loftus Road end. At the same time as the new Loftus Road stand was built executive boxes were installed in the lower tier of the South Africa Road stand and the artificial pitch laid. The stadium capacity at this time was 27,000 and it was one of the most modern and advanced stadiums in Britain having been completely reconstructed over a 13-year period from 1968 to 1981. Between the summer of 1994 and the start of 2022–23 season; Loftus Road ground was an all-seater stadium with the construction of seating in the lower Loftus Road stand. The last match where home spectators were able to watch the match from terracing was on 16 April 1994 against Everton. Standing returned to Loftus Road in 2022 when the club introduced rail seating in the ML, NL & PL blocks in the Lower Loft and the R Block in the Stanley Bowles Stand.
The owning company, also called Loftus Road, of QPR, London Wasps and the stadium itself, went into the red in the late 1990s only a couple of seasons after it was formed in 1996. In 2001, there were concerns that Queens Park Rangers and the stadium would need to be sold separately when the club went into administration. There was interest from commercial buyers and housing developers. A supporter's trust was set up to keep the club at Loftus Road, and to fight the suggested move out of the stadium and to Milton Keynes. One further suggestion was a merger between QPR and fellow London club Wimbledon, with the newly merged club playing at Loftus Road, but this idea was abandoned following the response from supporters. A £1 million payment by QPR's long time local rivals Fulham in 2002 helped to alleviate the financial problems in return for a ground sharing agreement while Craven Cottage was developed.
Loftus Road briefly became home to non-league football club Yeading as they faced Premiership club Newcastle United in the third round of the 2005 FA Cup. The decision was made as Yeading felt that their home stadium could not suitably segregate the fans. Despite holding out for fifty minutes, Yeading went on to lose the match, 2–0.
In a fundraiser for the Grenfell Tower fire, which happened on 14 June 2017, Loftus Road stadium hosted a special match – appropriately named 'Game 4 Grenfell' – for the people who died. Celebrities participating included Olly Murs, Sir Mo Farah and many more. This took place on 2 September 2017.
On 7 June 2019, following nominations and a fan vote from a shortlist, it was announced that Loftus Road Stadium would be renamed the 'Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium' in honour of the former QPR youth team member Kiyan Prince who was fatally stabbed in 2006.
In December 2021, it was announced that the Ellerslie Road Stand would be renamed the Stanley Bowles Stand. In February 2022 the club announced a fundraising campaign, asking supporters to pay for the planned renaming costs.
Ahead of the 2022–23 season, the club installed just under 1000 rail seats in the ML, NL & PL blocks in the Lower Loft and the R Block in the Stanley Bowles Stand and the upper tier of the School End stand used by visiting supporters. The current capacity of the stadium is 18,439.
It was not the first time that an owner had suggested moving out of Loftus Road, with director Antonio Caliendo suggesting, in March 2006, a potential site for a new shopping and leisure development near the BBC Television Centre, and then QPR manager, Luigi De Canio, suggesting in 2008 that the team needed to leave the stadium in order to fulfil its ambitions.
In August 2013, QPR started discussions with Hammersmith and Fulham Council about moving into a new stadium, believed to be at Old Oak Common, and soon after, in December, confirmed that they would be leaving Loftus Road for the short move across west London. However, in July 2014, those plans suffered a setback, with the current tenants at Old Oak – Car Giant – suggesting the club's plans were "speculative and presumptuous". The new stadium was planned to be called New Queens Park.
Naming history
- 1904–2019: Loftus Road Stadium
- 2019–2022: Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium
- 2022–2023: Loftus Road Stadium
- 2023–present: MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium
Structures and facilities
The stadium has a capacity of 18,439.
The Stanley Bowles Stand, formerly known as the Ellerslie Road stand, was rebuilt in 1972. having moved from their home in Sudbury, Middlesex, as part of the deal in which Chris Wright took control of both Wasps and QPR. Wasps won the English Premiership in their first season at Loftus Road. It has also been used to host the final of the British Universities and Colleges Sport football tournaments.
The venue has also been used to host boxing in the past, with the most notable bout being between Irishman Barry McGuigan and Panamanian Eusebio Pedroza on 8 June 1985 for the WBA featherweight championship in front of a sold out capacity of 27,000 spectators. The stadium was transformed into a little bit of Ireland for the evening, with the Ireland's Saturday Night on sale, and man dressed as a leprechaun dancing around the ring before the main event. McGuigan knocked the Panamanian down in the 7th round en route to a unanimous decision win: Pedroza was making the nineteenth defense of his title, and Ireland had not had a boxing world champion for 35 years. The band Yes performed at the stadium on 10 May 1975, which was recorded and featured on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
Internationals
Loftus Road hosted two England B internationals. The first was against France B in 1992 with the hosts winning, 2–0, and the other was against Russia-2 in 1998 and won, 4–1.
It was the first 'neutral' venue to capitalise on hosting international friendlies not involving England.
A testimonial match for Simon Barker saw QPR lose to the Jamaica national team by 2–1 in March 1998, with the national team returning to Loftus Road in 2002 to play Nigeria where they lost, 1–0. Israel requested to play their Euro 2004 qualifying match against Cyprus as UEFA had banned Israel from hosting home games on its own territory due to security concerns. The application was rejected as there were already five scheduled matches over the course of thirteen days as it was during the time that QPR were sharing Loftus Road with Fulham. QPR themselves played the Iranian national team in a pre-season friendly on 23 July 2005. On 14 November 2006, Australia drew 1–1 with Ghana in an international friendly at the ground. In 2007 Denmark won, 3–1, against Australia at Loftus Road. In 2008, Australia played another friendly at Loftus Road against South Africa, the match ended 2–2. South Korea won, 2–0, against Ivory Coast at Loftus Road on 3 March 2010.
Loftus Road hosted the 2015 Saudi Super Cup between Al Nassr and Al Hilal, marking the first time that the competition was held outside of Saudi Arabia.
The stadium hosted two rugby league internationals. The first was a 2004 Rugby League Tri-Nations match between Australia and New Zealand on Saturday 23 October 2004 with Australia winning, 32–16. The other was a 2005 Rugby League Tri-Nations match between Great Britain and New Zealand on 29 October 2005 with New Zealand winning, 42–26.
List of international football matches
thumb|right|The Australia vs South Africa international at the Loftus Road Stadium in 2008.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Date
!Team #1
!Score
!Team #2
!Ref
|-
|2002
|Nigeria
|align=center|1–0
|Jamaica
|
|-
|2006
|Trinidad and Tobago
|align=center|2–0
|Iceland
|
|-
|2007
|Denmark
|align=center|3–1
|Australia
| The Underground stations have on rare occasions been a means for Away teams to arrive, e.g. Coventry City's players arrived via the tube station in 2008 after their coach got stuck in traffic.
A number of London Bus routes run near the stadium. From South Africa Road to the north, the 228 runs in both directions, terminating at Maida Hill and Central Middlesex Hospital. On the same road, the 283 runs through to East Acton, and although it does not stop when running in the other direction on South Africa Road, it does stop on the adjacent Bloemfontein Road. Other buses nearby are the 260, 207 and SL8, each of which run down the Uxbridge Road.
References
;Specific
;General
External links
- Queens Park Rangers' Website
- Picture Gallery Loftus Road on londonfootballguide.com