Kingsmeadow
The ground exists because Kingstonian sold Richmond Road and built a replacement on the edge of Kingston upon Thames. What it became afterwards belongs to other clubs. AFC Wimbledon took the lease in 2003 and called it the Fans' Stadium, and over the following decade the place was rebuilt piece by piece: the Tempest End was covered in 2005–06, the Paul Strank Stand extended in 2008–09, and in September 2012 a terrace came down to make way for a 1,000-seat stand.
Almost every end has carried more than one name. The Chemflow End began as the Athletics End, then the Tempest End, then the EcoHouse End. The John Green Stand was the Nongshim Stand. The RyGas Stand started as the East Stand and spent time as the Your Golf Travel Stand.
The fullest the ground has ever been was 14 May 2016, when 4,870 watched AFC Wimbledon meet Accrington Stanley in the Football League Two play-off semi-final. Within eighteen months the tenants had changed again: Chelsea bought the lease in 2015 for £2 million and moved Chelsea Women in for 2017–18, with the Cobham Next Gen academy side sharing the pitch.
That pitch was relaid in the summer of 2021 as a stitched hybrid. Kingsmeadow has since staged UEFA Women's Champions League football — Chelsea against Juventus in December 2021, interrupted by a pitch invasion — and a friendly between Australia and South Africa in October 2022. Between matches it has held concerts and comedy nights.
Who plays here
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Chelsea U21
72 matches
Recent matches here
| Date | Match | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Jul | Chelsea U21 — Cardiff City U21 | 0:0 |
| 1 May | Chelsea U21 — Tottenham Hotspur U21 | 1:3 |
| 25 Apr | Chelsea U21 — Middlesbrough U21 | 1:0 |
| 14 Mar | Chelsea U21 — Sunderland U21 | 4:0 |
| 20 Feb | Chelsea U21 — Leeds United U21 | 2:2 |
| 7 Feb | Chelsea U21 — Blackburn Rovers U21 | 5:0 |
| 30 Jan | Chelsea U21 — Southampton U21 | 4:2 |
| 21 Jan | Chelsea U21 — Real Sociedad B | 2:3 |