The Falmer Stadium, known for sponsorship purposes as the American Express Community Stadium and more commonly referred to as the Amex, is a football stadium in the village of Falmer, in the City of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. With a capacity of 31,800, it is the second largest stadium in all of South East England, and the 31st largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It serves as the home of Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion, and was handed over from the developers to the club on 31 May 2011. The first competitive game played at the stadium was the 2010–11 season final of the Sussex Senior Cup between Brighton and Eastbourne Borough on 16 July 2011. The first league game was against Doncaster Rovers, who were also the opponents in the last game played at Brighton's former stadium, the Goldstone Ground, 14 years earlier. Falmer Stadium hosted Premier League football for the first time in August 2017, following Albion's promotion at the end of the 2016–17 season. The stadium was designed to allow hosting for other sports and events. It hosted some matches from the 2015 Rugby World Cup and the UEFA Women's Euro 2022. History Plans The plans were initiated by Brighton & Hove Albion after the club's previous home, the Goldstone Ground, was sold by the club's former board (consisting of Greg Stanley, Bill Archer and David Bellotti) to developers in 1995 with no new home arranged. When the club was evicted at the end of the 1996–1997 season, it groundshared for two seasons at Gillingham's Priestfield Stadium, 50 miles away in Kent. Two years later, the club returned to Brighton as tenants of Withdean Stadium, which was upgraded to Football League capacity requirements and later expanded when Brighton reached Division One (now the EFL Championship) in 2002 following two successive promotions. The site at Falmer was identified during the 1998–99 season and it was hoped that the stadium would be ready in the early to mid-2000s. However, subsequent delays in gaining planning permission meant that the club had to wait until August 2011 before being able to play their home games there – more than a decade after the stadium was first proposed. Planning permission Planning permission was given by the unitary authority of Brighton and Hove City Council in June 2002, with the intention of the stadium being ready for the 2005–06 season.