Manchester Etihad Stadium
Etihad Stadium, also known as the City of Manchester Stadium, is a football stadium located in Manchester, England. It's the tenth largest stadium in the UK and has the capacity of 55,097 for football games. The stadium was built in 2002 as an athletic stadium for the Commonwealth Games and was originally proposed as an athletics arena in Manchester's bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics (which later took place in Sydney) and was also planned in the 1996 bid when Atlanta hosted the games, with plans of building the stadium reaching back to 1989. In 2003, it was converted into a football stadium and is home to Manchester City FC. The stadium was built by Laing Construction and designed and engineered by ArupSport. It received several awards for it's unique design including the 2003 award by the Institution of Structural Engineers and the 2004 award by the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 2015, the stadium was expanded by 7,000 seats with the completion of the third tier at the South Stand. The original capacity was 47,400. The Etihad Stadium is the centerpiece of SportCity, which includes other nationally important sporting venues such as the Manchester Regional Arena, the Manchester Velodrome and the National Indoor BMX Arena.
The stadium includes kitchen facilities, providing meals for up to 6000 people on match days. It also includes a number of press rooms, ground staff storage and a prison cell. It also includes conference facilities and is licensed for marriage ceremonies. The stadium is fully outfited with communications cabling and automatic access control system. The Etihad Stadium also includes six themed restaurants with one providing views on the pitch and 70 executive boxes. With the pitch positioned six metres below ground level, similar to Roman arenas and amphitheatres, the stadium was designed to be "an intimate, indimidating gladiatoral arena, embodying the atmosphere of a football club", as mentioned by ArupSport.
Apart from several Manchester City FC games in many leagues such as the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League, aswell as friendlies, such as the game between FC Barcelona in 2003, the stadium also hosted the 2008 UEFA Cup Final, the UEFA Women's Championship, the 2011 Conference National play-off between AFC Wimbledon and Luton Town, the 2015 Rugby World Cup Pool A match between England and Uruguay, the "Hatton's Homecoming" boxing match between Ricky Hatton and Juan Lazcano in 2008, the 2004 rugby league international match between Great Britain and Australia, and has also paid host to Magic Weekend, a rugby league competitions featuring all 14 members of the Super League playing each other over, for three seasons between 2012 and 2014. In 2004, it hosted two FA Summer Tournament with England playing against Japan and Iceland, and in 2016, it hosted an International Friendly between England and Turkey. Musical artists who performed at the ground include Red Hot Chili Peppers with support by James Brown, Oasis, who shot a live DVD Lord Don't Slow Me Down in 2005, George Michael, Foo Fighters, Bon Jovi, Robbie Williams, Spice Girls, The Stone Roses, Manic Street Preachers, Pet Shop Boys, One Direction, Take That, who also shot a live DVD called Take That: The Ultimate Tour, in 2006, and more.
Muse appearances
Stadium address
Etihad Stadium
Ashton New Road
Etihad Camppus
Manchester M11 3FF
United Kingdom