The FA Cup final, one of the landmark events in the global sporting year, finally returns home to Wembley Stadium on Saturday after a seven-year absence.
Although a few matches have already been played there, the 800 million pounds, 90,000-all seater stadium officially opens its doors for the first time when Manchester United meet Chelsea in the final for the second time in 13 years.
Ryan Giggs, who will captain United, is the one playing link between United's 4-0 win over Chelsea in 1994 and Saturday's match being staged in a glittering new stadium that bears little resemblance to the one that opened in April 1923 and staged its last match in October 2000.
The Twin Towers have been replaced by a 133-metre high arch that can be seen from vantage points all over London; the 39-steps that led to the old Royal Box have been replaced by 107 steps leading to the new Royal Box where FA President Prince William will present the cup at the end of the game.
The pillars that blighted the views of thousands in the old stadium have vanished and every seat has an unobstructed view of the pitch.
A special opening ceremony will start 90 minutes before kickoff with local schoolchildren wearing the kits of every team that have played in the Cup final since 1923. A flypast of the Red Arrows display team will also feature.
The last official match at the old Wembley was England's 1-0 defeat by Germany in a World Cup qualifier in October 2000. The last Cup final was in the May of that year when Chelsea beat Aston Villa 1-0 with Roberto Di Matteo scoring the goal.
Since then England have played in a variety of grounds around the country while all domestic cup finals were held at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
Wembley was due to host last year's FA Cup final but the rebuilding project was snagged by delays, soaring building costs and disputes.
The "icing on the cake" of the new stadium, the statue of England's World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore, was unveiled last week.
When the original Wembley opened for the 1923 Cup final between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham, an estimated crowd of 250,000 swarmed to Wembley to see the match which went ahead only after the pitch was cleared by a policeman on a white horse.
The one guarantee about Saturday's occasion is that security will be more of an issue than it was in 1923.
