Sydney Football Stadium, currently known as Allianz Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose

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 ...

in Moore Park, a suburb of

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 ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. Built as a replacement for the original Sydney Football Stadium, it was officially opened on 28 August 2022. The ground's major tenants are the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

of the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

, the

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), often referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team based in Sydney that represents the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby Pacific competition. The Waratahs play t ...

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

, 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, ...

of the

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

. It was one of the venues for the

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 ...

, and will host 2027 Rugby World Cup matches.

History

In October 2018 plans for the new stadium to replace the original Sydney Football Stadium were released by the

Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...

. In December 2018

Lendlease Lendlease is an Australian multinational construction and real estate company, headquartered in Barangaroo, Sydney, New South Wales. History Founding The company was established as Lendlease by Dick Dusseldorp in 1958 to provide finance fo ...

were appointed to build the stadium. Construction was initially scheduled to commence in 2019 with an early 2022 completion date. In July 2019 the construction part of the Lendlease contract was cancelled by the government, with John Holland and

Multiplex Multiplex may refer to: Science and technology * Multiplex communication, combining many signals into one transmission circuit or channel ** Multiplex (television), a group of digital television or radio channels that are combined for broadcast * ...

shortlisted to bid for the contract. In December 2019 John Holland was awarded a $735 million construction contract, representing a $99 million increase in the original budget for demolition and construction. The total construction cost was $828 million. The stadium was opened on 28 August 2022.

Guy Sebastian Guy Theodore Sebastian (born 26 October 1981) is an Australian singer who rose to fame after winning the Australian Idol (season 1), first season of ''Australian Idol'', in 2003. Born in Malaysia and raised in Adelaide, Australia, Sebastian h ...

performed on the opening night after a free community open day.

Bruno Mars Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is known for his three-octave tenor vocal range, live performances, R ...

performed two concerts as part of his 2022-24 tour on 14 and 15 October 2022.

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

performed two shows on his global farewell tour in Allianz Stadium on 17 and 18 January 2023.

Construction

Demolition of the previous stadium began on 8 March 2019. Opposition from local interest groups saw them attempt to prevent or slow the demolition via legal action before the

2019 New South Wales state election The 2019 New South Wales state election was held on Saturday 23 March 2019 to elect the 57th Parliament of New South Wales, including all 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly and 21 of the 42 seats in the Legislative Council. The election was ...

. After a short court-ordered delay just prior to the election, the existing Government was returned and the demolition of the old stadium continued through to completion on 18 December 2019 at a cost of $40 million. Construction of the stadium commenced on 15 April 2020 by construction giant John Holland Group, with major piling and excavation works beginning the following month. By the end of 2020 work on the structure had commenced on all four sides of the new venue, which included the main lift cores and precast placement works which would make up the main seating area. Following this the main formwork contractors commenced to allow the slabs to be poured for the main back of house areas. The first seats were installed on 27 October 2021. Allianz Stadium-Gate 3

Additional facilities and membership

Colocated with the Stadium but constructed under a separate contract is the Sporting Club of Sydney. This is a premium gym and wellness centre including gymnasiums, squash courts, pools, sauna and spas. Various memberships are available that provide access to the SCG, Allianz Stadium and the fitness and lifestyle facilities. SCG Members do not have access to Allianz Stadium nor the fitness and lifestyle facilities. Members have access to dedicated seating, bars and restaurants within the stadium. Various Tenant Clubs also offer membership to their home games at the stadium. These seats are generally in public areas other than Tunnel and Clubhouse memberships offered by Sydney FC. Just like the

Western Sydney Stadium Western Sydney Stadium, currently known as CommBank Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Parramatta, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It replaced the demolished Parramatta Stadium (1986) which in turn ...

the SFS also has dual configuration

safe standing Safe standing is a measure of design in stadia to ensure that spectators are able to stand safely during events. It is important in the context of football in the United Kingdom, association football in the United Kingdom, where a series of fatal ...

to be used by active support. Quick removal seating blocks are able to be switched out for standing rails in the three bays of the Northern end.

Political and contractual issues

The demolition and rebuild of the stadium was an issue in the

. The opposition Labor Party opposed the rebuild. The election was won by the incumbent government and the Sydney Football Stadium rebuild continued post-election. In December 2018, Lendlease was unveiled as the successful bidder to carry out the demolition and construction work.

Minister for Sport A ministry of sports or ministry of youth and sports is a kind of government ministry found in certain countries with responsibility for the regulation of sports, particularly those participated in by young people. It is led by the minister of s ...

Stuart Ayres Stuart Laurence Ayres (born 24 November 1980) is an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 19 June 2010 to 25 March 2023, representing the electorate of Electoral district of Penrith, Penrith as ...

was quizzed over how the contract for construction could be awarded, because development consent had not been secured for stage two. On 26 July 2019,

Minister for Sport, Multiculturalism, Seniors and Veterans The Minister for Sport is a minister in the Government of New South Wales with responsibilities for the administration and support for all sporting bodies in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It has often been combined with other portfol ...

John Sidoti Anthony John Sidoti () is an independent Australian politician who was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Drummoyne since 2011. He was a member of the Liberal Party, but moved to the crossbench as an independent ...

, announced Lendlease would not be constructing the new stadium because it was unable to complete the $729 million project within budget. At this stage demolition was mostly complete and it appeared the original contract was a fixed price option for the construction phase. John Holland took over the project after Lendlease declined to continue.

Crowd records

Current as of 4 September 2024

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup fixtures

References

External links

* {{Authority control Multi-purpose stadiums in Australia Philip Cox buildings Sports venues in Sydney A-League Men stadiums Rugby league stadiums in Australia Rugby union stadiums in Australia Soccer venues in Sydney New South Wales Waratahs Sydney FC Sydney Roosters Moore Park, New South Wales Venues of the 2032 Summer Olympics Sports venues completed in 2022 Allianz Rugby league in Sydney Rugby union in New South Wales 2022 establishments in Australia