Marconi Stadium is a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is the home ground for

Marconi Stallions Marconi Stallions Football Club is an Australian semi-professional association football club based in Fairfield, Sydney, New South Wales. The club has been crowned Australian champion four times. The Stallions are the soccer team of Club Marc ...

, as well as regularly hosting matches for the

Western Sydney Wanderers FC Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, Wanderers, or simply as WSW) is an Australian professional association football, association football club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South W ...

including their National Youth League and W-League teams.

Marconi Stallions

Although a soccer pitch had existed on the site since the start of the soccer club in the 1960s, Marconi Stadium itself was built in 1972 with a capacity of 11,500 and used for

matches within the NSW State League soccer pyramid. In 1977 the team joined the newly formed NSL and played in that competition until it ended in 2004 and the team re-joined the NSW State system. The stadium currently hosts Marconi games in the

NSW Premier League The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, one of the two organising bodies in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier Lea ...

. Marconi Stadium hosted the 2006 NSW Premier League final between Sydney United and

Blacktown City Blacktown City Council is a local government area in Western Sydney, situated on the Cumberland Plain, approximately west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1906 as the Blacktow ...

During the peak of the club success in the late 1980s to early 1990s the stadium earned the nickname "The Palace", being set alongside Club Marconi, the large licensed venue which generated significant financial support for the soccer club which helped them acquire a large number of talented players & staff. In November 2006, Berti Mariani ran for election to the board, on a platform of Marconi Stallions making a bid to join the

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

, and rebuilding Marconi Stadium into suitable venue. After the end of the NSL and the failure of Marconi to enter the new national competition the

, the full capacity of the stadium was no longer needed. The Eastern stand in particular fell into disuse and was eventually declared unsafe due to a shifting foundation. By 2018 the seating had been removed, the foundation repaired, a raised structure built containing a box for commentary or camera operators, with the rest of the former grandstand area being converted into a basic grassy hill.

International usage

The venue was used as a training camp for

as part of their preparation for their

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

qualification campaign. In 2007, the stadium hosted a match in which Chelsea legend

Gianfranco Zola Gianfranco Zola (; born 5 July 1966) is an Italian football executive, Manager (association football), manager, and former Association football, footballer who played predominantly as a Forward (association football), forward. He is currently v ...

made a guest appearance in a game between

APIA Leichhardt Tigers APIA Leichhardt Football Club, also known simply as APIA (Associazione Poli-sportiva Italo Australiana), is a semi-professional soccer club based in the suburb of Leichhardt, New South Wales, Leichhardt in Sydney, Australia. The club was forme ...

and the Marconi Stallions. The ground record crowd for Marconi Stadium was set in 1993 when 14,220 fans attended to see the Australian under-20s take on the Brazil under-20s side in a warm up game for the

1993 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1993 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 9th edition FIFA World Youth Championship. U20 Brazil defeated Ghana, 2–1 for its third title. It took place a ...

held in Australia later that year. The stadium also hosts play-offs & grand finals for various youth & amateur competitions including the Churches Football Association of Sydney, as well as one-off charity & special events. In 2023 the venue was the training facility for the Colombian

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

squad.

Western Sydney Wanderers

With the introduction of the

into the

, Club Marconi and the Wanderers began an association that has seen matches for the

Women's, Youth and NPL sides played at Marconi Stadium. The Marconi social club has also hosted Wanderers supporters viewing important away games & hosted club supporter forums. On Saturday 27 September 2014, a W-League Sydney Derby match between the Western Sydney Wanderers and

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

resulted in a record stand alone W-League regular season crowd of 3,084 to watch Sydney FC win the match 2–0. In the 2018 season of the

FFA Cup The Australia Cup (currently known as the Hahn Australia Cup for sponsorship reasons) is the national soccer knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia (known as Football Federation Austra ...

the Western Sydney Wanderers were drawn to play an away game against

Bonnyrigg White Eagles Bonnyrigg White Eagles FC is an Australian semi-professional association football, soccer club based in Bonnyrigg, New South Wales, Bonnyrigg, Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, currently playing in the NSW League One. The club was founded in 1968 ...

. Due to a poor surface and a general lack of facilities to host the game at the Bonnyrigg stadium, the fixture was moved to Marconi Stadium and played 29 August 2018, the Wanderers winning 2–1 with a crowd of 5,137. From 2019 onward the opening of the Wanderers Football Park boutique stadium at the

Blacktown International Sportspark Blacktown International Sportspark (BISP) (officially known as Blacktown Olympic Park) is a multi-sports venue located in Rooty Hill, a suburb in Sydney, Australia. The venue includes two cricket grounds, which have also been used for Australi ...

has seen the club cut back the number of games played at Marconi Stadium. The Wanderers were drawn to host

Adelaide United FC Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's Association football, soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently ...

in the Round of 16 of the 2023 Australia Cup with the match taking place on 29 August 2023, the Wanderers won the game 5–1 with Marcus Antonsson and Brandon Borrello both scoring twice and Milos Ninkovic scoring his first goal for the Wanderers. The crowd was reported at 2,490.

Rugby League

In 1996, the stadium hosted a

Rugby league sevens Rugby league sevens (or simply sevens) is a seven-a-side derivative of rugby league football, which is usually a thirteen-a-side sport. The game is substantially the same as full rugby league, with some rule changes and shorter games. Sevens is ...

match between

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. In October 2009 the stadium hosted the rugby league Mediterranean Shield, involving Australian local players split into 4 'national' teams based on Portuguese, Maltese, Italian and Greek heritage, with Greece winning the final 34–14 against Italy.

References

{{A-League Women stadiums Rugby league stadiums in Australia Soccer venues in Sydney Sports venues in Sydney 1972 establishments in Australia Sports venues completed in 1972 Marconi Stallions FC A-League Women stadiums