Derby County’s Pride Park Stadium is 20 years old today!
The Rams’ home was officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen on 18th July 1997, before a crowd of 30,000 people.
After playing at the famous Baseball Ground between 1895-1997, the club’s Chairman at the time Lionel Pickering made the decision to move to a brand-new home.
The first-ever match to be played at Pride Park Stadium was against Italian side Sampdoria two weeks later, on 4th August 1997 in a pre-season friendly. Derby fell to a 1-0 defeat with striker Vincenzo Montella scoring the only goal of the game for the visitors.
The first-ever competitive game played at the stadium, against Wimbledon on was abandoned following a floodlight failure. Therefore, the first completed fixture at the club’s new home was the 1-0 win against Barnsley on 30th August 1997 – with Stefano Eranio scoring in a 1-0 Derby win.
Twenty years on, the Rams’ home looks fantastic as ever. Hundreds of matches have been played in that time, plenty of goals have been scored and stacks of memories have been made which will last a lifetime.
The club will be celebrating the 20 years at Pride Park across 2017/18 season; so look out for plenty of content, features and interviews in the coming months.
Happy Birthday, Pride Park Stadium! Here’s to the next 20 years.
