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West Ham United’s heroes will return from their triumphant night in Prague to a victory celebration in the streets of east London on Thursday evening.
The playing squad and coaching staff will parade the Club’s first major trophy since 1980 on a specially-commissioned open top bus, travelling from the Hammers’ old home at Upton Park to a reception at Stratford Town Hall.
Wednesday night’s historic victory over ACF Fiorentina in the UEFA Europa Conference League final has delivered the first European trophy to east London since the legendary West Ham team starring Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters and Alan Sealey won the Cup Winners’ Cup at Wembley in May 1965.
In the celebrations that followed that triumph, Moore and his team-mates greeted tens of thousands of supporters from the roof of their parade bus, before the captain held the trophy aloft from the balcony of East Ham Town Hall, standing alongside the Mayor of Newham.
Almost 60 years on, the new generation of trophy-winning Hammers heroes will pay tribute to their predecessors in our heartland, starting the parade at the junction of Green Street and Barking Road, adjacent to the Boleyn Pub and The Champions Statue.
The parade will then proceed west along Barking Road, turn right onto Greengate Street, and continue slowly along the A112 past Plaistow Park, Plaistow Station and Stratford Park, before ending its journey on West Ham Lane, outside the Old Town Hall in Stratford – at the heart of our home borough of Newham and where our current home resides.
The Mayor of Newham Rokhsana Fiaz will be there to welcome the squad, just like her predecessor in 1965, and Hammers skipper Declan Rice will hold the trophy aloft in front of the Claret & Blue faithful.
It promises to be a party that no-one present will ever forget, after a victory that will be forever etched in the history of West Ham United, and in the record books of European football.
The Club welcomes every West Ham fan who is able to be there to line the streets, and give a heroes’ welcome to the Boys of Prague on what is set to be an evening of unforgettable celebrations and hopes that those following us from afar can enjoy following the scenes on whufc.com