Pride Park Stadium

The Queen opened it on 18 July 1997, in front of 30,000 people. Derby County had left the Baseball Ground, one of the tightest, most enclosed pitches in the old First Division, and moved to something built to the opposite specification: continuous bowl, no floodlight pylons, sightlines unobstructed the whole way round.

The foundation stone went down in November 1995, construction started in September 1996, and the ground was ready for football inside a year. The Miller Partnership drew it, Taylor Woodrow built it, and the bill came to £28m. The design allowed 30,000 seats; filling in the corners and later extensions took it to 33,597, which is why the stand heights step rather than run level — the ground grew into its shape instead of arriving with it.

Football arrived before the league did. Sampdoria came for the friendly on 4 August 1997, and Wimbledon for the first competitive match on 13 August. The pitch has since been rebuilt twice: a hybrid surface, artificial fibres stitched into natural grass, was installed in the summer of 2016, and the whole thing was lifted and relaid to the same specification from May 2025.

The sponsorship deal that made it the iPro Stadium ran its course, and the name reverted. There is no separate address beyond Pride Park Way — no building number, because the business park never issued one.