Tottenham Hotspur FC and 10 World Football Teams That Need New Stadiums

If its stadium is the face a club shows to the world, these 10 clubs need a facelift.

Yup, that's right: Today we're talking stadiums. More to the point, we're talking about teams that need new ones.

Each team has its own reason for needing new digs.

Some risk falling behind their rivals and neighbors. Others are playing in venues that date to the early 20th century, some even before that. Still others have fewer seats than the local parish church.

And it's a shame, too, because the faithful deserve a great place where they can hear the gospel of football every week.

Can I get an amen?

Luton Town

Is that a warehouse?

What's that? It's a stadium?

That, friends, is Kenilworth Road, home stadium of Luton Town of Conference National.

Completed in 1905, Kenilworth Road holds 10,226 fans—pretty good for a Conference club.

We hate to pick on a Conference team because, you know, they're way down in Conference. But this is a little silly.

Do they want people to think they're a Sam's Club?

Maybe the interior is better.

Nope.

Otelul Galati

Other than the pronunciation of the club's name, the only thing more confusing about Otelul Galati is its home stadium.

Galati (pronounced "Ge-LETS") is a town along the Danube in Romania. Otelul (pronounced "OATS-el-ool") translates to the English as "dump."

We're kidding!

Otelul Galati play in a stadium too small to host Champions League matches. That's a problem because Otelul Galati qualified for the group stages of this year's Champions League.

Since their stadium holds only 13,500 people, Otelul have been hosting their Champions League matches in Bucharest—about three hours away by car.

Queens Park Rangers

Queens Park Rangers have a really sweet name. Their stadium, likewise, sounds really cool.

Loftus Road.

Wouldn't you want to play in a stadium called that?

Problem is, it's small—really, really small.

Completed in 1904, Loftus Road has a capacity of 18,360—the smallest in the Premier League. The nearest competitor is Swansea's Liberty Stadium, which can hold more than 20,000 people.

Loftus Road is nice, but it needs to go. Why? Because QPR need more fans and more money.

Here's a hint, QPR: If you want to stay in the Premier League, you're going to need more money. More fans equal more money.

Please, please, get a new stadium. We all enjoy your home kit so much.

CSKA Moscow

CSKA Moscow are a big club, right?

You wouldn't know it by their stadium.

That's Arena Khimki, which holds 18,636 supporters. But it's not actually CSKA's home stadium.

Their real home stadium is LFK CSKA (it stands for Light-Athletic Football Complex CSKA, but, you know in Russian. As my Russian history professor taught me in college, Russians love acronyms).

LFK CSKA holds about 4,600 fans.

Thus they use Arena Khimki, which really isn't all that great either.

In fairness, CSKA are building a new ground. It's expected to be ready in 2013.

Let's hope it has at least 5,000 seats this time.

West Bromwich Albion

This is another English stadium with a cool name.

But this one is old and rickety, with poor sight lines to boot.

That's West Bromwich Albion's The Hawthorns. It opened in September 1900 and has a current capacity of 26,484.

Great name, huh? It's not a bad stadium, either.

But you wouldn't get to see much of the match if you sat here or here. All the old, decaying wood might get in the way of the action on the pitch.

Lille OSC

Want to know why Eden Hazard wants to leave Lille?

Check out their stadium.

Would you want to play there?

In fairness, AC/DC and Pink Floyd both played shows there in the '80s, but these days this stadium is too small for a consistent Champions League qualifier.

Lille are, by the way, planning to open a new stadium in 2012.

Liverpool

Anfield is a piece of living history.

But it's holding Liverpool back.

Liverpool can't keep up with Manchester United and Arsenal when it comes to game-day revenue.

United's stadium holds more than 75,000 people. Arsenal's holds more than 60,000.

Anfield, which opened in 1894, can now hold 45,276. That's OK for some clubs, but Liverpool need more seats.

The process—which has been long—is already underway. The latest word is that Liverpool are searching for a naming-rights partner.

Here are some concept drawings of the new stadium, if you're interested.

BATE Borisov

BATE Borisov is a really sweet name for a football club.

One can just imagine cartoon characters and Russian heads of state lurking in the depths of the stadium.

Big problem: The stadium doesn't have any depths.

BATE play in Haradski Stadium, which can hold 5,402 supporters. Like Otelul Galati, BATE have to travel to a bigger city to play their "home" games in the Champions League.

At least it's not so far for BATE. They only have to travel 90-odd kilometers to Minsk to play in Dinamo Stadium.

Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur play in White Hart Lane, a gorgeous, old, venerable stadium in North London.

The Lane opened in 1899 and holds just over 36,000.

But as Spurs fans know, it's time to move. The club risk falling behind Arsenal and Manchester United in game-day revenue.

As this Telegraph article says, Spurs make about a quarter of Manchester United's game-day revenue and have a wage bill about half the size of United's.

So, Spurs want to build a new home. The concept art looks pretty nifty, too.

They're also not ruling out a move to Olympic Stadium after next summer's games are over.

In fact, they're fighting West Ham for the rights to the stadium. And the Arsenal fans snicker in the back row.

Various MLS Clubs

Since it began operations in 1996, Major League Soccer has improved the quality of stadiums in America.

The movement towards "soccer-specific stadiums" has resulted in oddly named jewels like Pizza Hut Park (FC Dallas), Dick's Sporting Goods Park (Colorado Rapids), Livestrong Sporting Park (Sporting Kansas City) and The Home Depot Center (LA Galaxy and Chivas USA).

But the Houston Dynamo play in Robertson Stadium, a nice enough venue once you can get past the American football lines painted on the pitch.

Same goes for the New England Revolution (Gillette Stadium), the Seattle Sounders (CenturyLink Field) and DC United (the dilapidated RFK Stadium).