Hopes are high today that the new Wembley stadium will hold this year's FA Cup Final. Multiplex finally handed over the keys to the £800 million stadium to the Football Association late last night.
All that now stands in the way of the London venue hosting the May final is the conclusion of safety procedures.
FA chief executive Brian Barwick said: "Handover of the keys is a significant step towards staging this year's FA Cup Final and opening the new Wembley Stadium.
"Wembley National Stadium Limited (WNSL) and the FA must now stage two successful ramp-up events in order to gain the safety certificate. We have been preparing for a very long time and are delighted to finally get inside the stadium."
The handover of keys marked the end of a chapter in the troubled history of a project whose construction has been dogged by bitter rows between the parties involved.
Last summer Multiplex and WNSL were at either other's throats, with each blaming the other for yet another delay in completing the project.
The 90,000-capacity venue was due to host last year's FA Cup final, but it had to be held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff instead. But today Multiplex and WNSL echoed Mr Barwick's delight that the stadium was now built.
Multiplex joint managing director Ross McDiven said: "The fact that the stadium is now complete and is a world class facility is testament to the hard work and perseverance of the Multiplex staff who worked on the project and the contractors who worked alongside us.
"Multiplex is very proud of what is unquestionably a spectacular building."
WNSL managing director Alex Horne said: "We have a lot of detailed work still to do and will continue post-handover to work with Multiplex and their sub-contractors to finalise all aspects of the stadium and bring it to life."
The first of the two so-called "ramp-up" events will see Brent residents visit the stadium next Saturday. All tickets have already been allocated.
The second event is an England Under-21 international against Italy the following Saturday.
