- Address: Saint-Denis
- Country: French Republic
- Capacity: 80,000
- Opened: 28 January 1998
- Main use: Football, rugby union
- Tenants:
Extra stadium info – Stade de France
The construction of the Stade de France, which is located close to Paris, started in 1995. It opened as the largest stadium by capacity in the French Republic, commonly known as France. The venue is used by both the national football team of the French Republic and the national rugby union team of the French Republic. It hosted FIFA World Cup games, Rugby World Cup games and UEFA Champions League finals.
The first FIFA World Cup final at the Stade de France
In 1998, the stadium hosted the final for the prestigious FIFA World Cup, which was won by the French Republic after defeating Brazil in front of 80,000 fans. The national football team of the French Republic became the seventh team with a FIFA World Cup title. The national football teams of the Argentine Republic, Brazil, England, Germany, the Italian Republic and Uruguay won at least one world championship title before the French Republic.
The first UEFA Champions League final at the Stade de France
The first UEFA Champions League final at the Stade de France took place in 2000. The European championship for football clubs was won by the Spanish football giants Real Madrid after defeating Valencia CF 3-0 in front of 80,000 spectators. It was the first time in the history of the European championship for football clubs that two clubs from the same country competed in the final.
The first Rugby World Cup final at the Stade de France
In 2007, 80,000 people showed up for the first Rugby World Cup final at the Stade de France. The final was refereed by Alain Colm Pierre Rolland, who played for the national rugby union team of Ireland. The national rugby union team of South Africa won the Rugby World Cup final after beating England. The South Africans were crowned world champions in rugby union for the second time in their history after beating England at the Stade de France.
The Race of Champions and a world record
The Stade de France hosted its first Race of Champions, an international motorsport event featuring some of the world’s best drivers, in 2004. The Finnish Formula One star Heikki Kovalainen won the event. In 2015, the noise produced by the 80,000 spectators at the Stade de France during the final of the French cup tournament reached 109 decibels, which broke the world record noise produced by spectators during a final match of a football tournament.
