Boxer Stadium (also known as Matthew J. Boxer Stadium) is a soccer stadium in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Located in Balboa Park, the stadium has a capacity of 3,500. It is owned and operated by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department and is the only public

soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi- ...

in San Francisco. Boxer Stadium is the primary home of the century-old

San Francisco Soccer Football League The San Francisco Soccer Football League or SFSFL, established in 1902, is "the oldest American soccer league in continuous existence." The SFSFL is a men's semi-professional and amateur soccer league consisting of teams from San Francisco, Cali ...

History

Boxer Stadium opened September 27, 1953 as the Balboa Park Soccer Stadium at a cost of $150,000. The concrete bleachers were added later after the November 1953 Proposition G bond passage. The stadium was renamed in honor of the late SFSFL President, Matthew J. Boxer in the 1990s. Boxer Stadium served as the main venue of the 1982 Gay Games.

Tenants

The stadium is home to the

, the Golden Gate Women's Soccer League, and the San Francisco Unified School District

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high school and middle school soccer. For the 2013 season the San Francisco Stompers FC of the

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's soccer league. The NPSL is a semi-professional league, comprising some teams that have paid players and some that are entirely amateur. The league is officially affiliated to the Uni ...

played their home games at Boxer Stadium. High school

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teams from SHC also use Boxer Stadium. Rugby and

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include t ...

teams had used Boxer Stadium until the opening of Ray Sheeran Field on

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in 2005. In 2016, Boxer Stadium was the home pitch for the San Francisco Rush professional rugby team in the new PRO Rugby competition in the United States, however, the team was folded by the league after one season citing an unsuitable venue.

USA Internationals

Boxer Stadium has hosted 16 USA Eagles international rugby union matches. It was the unofficial home of the Eagles from 1996 to 2000, hosting 12 of their 17 test matches. The results are as follows: ''Updated 30 April 2021''

References

External links

SF Recreation & Parks Department
{{Premier Development League stadiums Soccer venues in San Francisco Rugby union stadiums in San Francisco Sports venues completed in 1953 1953 establishments in California Defunct National Premier Soccer League stadiums Ultimate (sport) venues