This imposing 80,000-seater is in the heart of the district of Saint-Denis. Tour bookings on 029 2082 2228; 'd Like an International Transfer Travellers on the cross-Channel trains of Eurostar (08705 186 186; ) on the final approach to Paris pass very close to France's biggest stadium. Quite reasonably, the place is more rugby than football-orientated, but the tour includes a fascinating demonstration of the roof mechanism: it's so well balanced that only £3-worth of energy is expended in opening or closing it. Official tours of the ground (10am-5pm daily; to 4pm on Sunday) cost £5.50 for adults, £3 for children.
The FA is provisionally booking Cardiff in case things go wrong at Wembley, as they so often have.The Millennium is surely the most conveniently sited national stadium in the world, lying little more than a hefty defensive clearance from Cardiff's main street, castle and railway station. The Millennium Stadium is Britain's finest, with the country's first retractable roof and 72,500 seats. Wembley should be ready in time for the FA Cup Final in May 2006, so Cardiff's finest football hours may be in the past, but don't count on it. The museum is open between 10am to 5pm Monday-Friday, and 10.30am-3pm on Saturdays between April and September.What about the National Stadium?Wales' profile in the footballing firmament has been given a huge lift by the FA's decision to play English cup finals in Cardiff while Wembley is being rebuilt. But as the exhibition points out, the Scots had had four years' extra practice. Much is made of Wales' finest hour, at the 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden, when their unsung side reached the quarter finals and gave the eventual champions Brazil a mighty scare, dominating the game for long periods but conceding a single, fortuitous goal scored by an unknown 17-year-old called Pele.
Its location is just five minutes from the racecourse ground where Wales played their first international match in the spring of 1876 - a 4-0 defeat by Scotland. The Hammers are staying at Upton Park for the time being: their museum has the unique treble of the World Cup winners' medals earned by Bobby Moore, Sir Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, who scored all the goals on that overcast day in the summer of 1966 when England, for the only time, conquered the world.And for a Welsh angle?The oval ball has always taken precedence over the round in Wales, so perhaps it's fitting that the Welsh Football Collection (01978 317970; ) is tucked away in a corner of the County Borough Museum at Regent Street in Wrexham, close to the English border. Manchester United (0870 442 1994; ) offers a virtual reality tour of Old Trafford, and a tribute to the Busby Babes, cruelly destroyed in the Munich air disaster of 1958.In London, Arsenal (020-7704 4504; ) and West Ham United (020-8548 2700; ) have museums and collections worth exploring. This is Arsenal's last season at Highbury, making a visit to the museum in the North Bank Stand all the more evocative. Open Tuesday to Saturday between 10am to 5pm (7.30pm on midweek matchdays), and Sunday 11am to 5pm.Several clubs have museums of their own. At Anfield (0151 260 6677; ) there is an evocative tableau that brings to life Bill Shankly's mid-Sixties Liverpool squad, gathered in the dressing room.
