Stadium Australia

Stadium Australia, officially known as ANZ Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Sydney, Australia. It is primarily used for rugby league, rugby union, and Australian rules football matches, hosting the home games of several teams across these sports. The stadium is owned by the New South Wales Government.

Opened on 6 March 1999 with an exhibition rugby league match between the Australian and New Zealand national teams, it replaced the Sydney Sports Ground. The Stadium Australia was originally built with a seating capacity of 110,000, making it the largest Olympic Stadium ever built. However, post the 2000 Sydney Olympics, it was reconfigured to a rectangular field configuration, reducing the capacity to 84,000. The stadium was designed by Populous (formerly HOK Sport) and had a construction cost of AUD 690 million.

Being a Category 4 stadium designated by FIFA, and one of the biggest stadiums by capacity in the world, Stadium Australia hosted several matches of the 2000 Summer Olympics including the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the final match of the 2003 Rugby World Cup. It was also one of the venues for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup and the 2017 Rugby League World Cup. By its twentieth anniversary, Stadium Australia had welcomed more than 26 million spectators. The stadium is also one of the potential venues for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, which Australia is bidding to host.