Stadium Australia (known under naming rights as Accor Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park in Sydney. The stadium is primarily used for rugby league as the home ground of the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League (NRL) as well as the New South Wales Blues in State of Origin and the venue for the NRL Grand Final. It also frequently hosts the Australia national rugby union team, Australia men's national soccer team, and Australia women's national soccer team.
The stadium opened in 1999, in time for its use as a primary venue in the 2000 Summer Olympics. At the time of opening the stadium featured a capacity of 115,000 spectators, making it the largest Olympic Stadium ever built and the largest stadium in Australia at the time. However since then reconfiguration work has occurred to add movable seating, able to be converted between rectangular and oval configurations, and a current capacity of 80,000 spectators. The stadium was constructed at a cost of $690 million and is operated by Venues NSW.
The stadium is the host of the annual NRL Grand Final, and is one of the primary stadiums in the annual State of Origin series. The stadium also hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2000 Summer Olympics, where it also hosted athletics and the football final. The stadium has also hosted matches during the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, including the final. It also hosted games in the 2003 Rugby World Cup, including the opening and the final, the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, including the final, and the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup including the final.
History Early history
The first sporting event held at the stadium was on 6 March 1999 when a then-record rugby league crowd of 104,583 watched the NRL first round double-header, featuring Newcastle v Manly and Parramatta v St George Illawarra Dragons. The attendance broke the old record of 102,569 set at the Odsal Stadium in Bradford, England for the Challenge Cup Final replay between Warrington and Halifax held on 5 May 1954.
The first concert at the stadium was the Bee Gees, on 27 March 1999. The band had embarked on what would be their final world tour before the death of Maurice Gibb, the tour ending in the newly built Olympic Stadium. The show was sold out with an attendance of 66,285.
The stadium was officially opened on 12 June 1999 when the Australian National Soccer team played the FIFA All Stars. Australia won the match 3–2 in front of a crowd of 88,101. Stadium Australia also played host to the national side's historic playoff win over Uruguay in November 2005, a victory which granted Australia FIFA World Cup qualification for only the second time. The event attracted a virtual capacity crowd of 82,698.
The 1999 Bledisloe Cup rugby union match between Australia and New Zealand attracted a then-world record rugby union crowd of 107,042. In 2000, this was bettered when a near-capacity crowd of 109,874 (capacity at the time was 110,000) witnessed the "greatest ever rugby match" when a Jonah Lomu try sealed an All Blacks win over the Wallabies 39–35.
An exhibition soccer match between the Australia national team and English club Manchester United was played on 18 July 1999, with Manchester United winning 1–0 in front of 78,000 spectators.
On 9 June 1999, the stadium hosted its first State of Origin game between New South Wales and Queensland. The match, game 2 of the three-game series, saw the record Origin attendance in Sydney when 88,336 saw the Blues christen their new home with a 12–8 win. The attendance broke the Origin attendance record of 87,161 set at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for Game 2 of the 1994 series.
On 7 August 1999, a National Football League (American football) exhibition game called the American Bowl was played between the Denver Broncos and the San Diego Chargers, bringing home former Australian Football League player Darren Bennett, the Chargers' punter. The Broncos won the game 20–17 in front of 73,811 spectators. This was Australia's first, and currently only, American Bowl game.
The 1999 National Rugby League grand final, played on 26 September between the Melbourne Storm and the St George Illawarra Dragons, broke the rugby league world-record crowd, set earlier in the season, when 107,999 came to watch the Storm defeat the Dragons 20–18 to win their first NRL premiership.
During the 2000 Olympics, the evening athletics sessions on day 11 attracted 112,524 spectators on the night that Australia's Cathy Freeman won the Olympic Gold Medal for the Women's 400 metres. As of 2014, this remains the world record attendance for any athletics event. Also during the Olympics, the soccer final attracted 104,098 to witness Cameroon defeat Spain for its first-ever Olympic gold medal. This was an Olympic Games football attendance record, breaking the record of 101,799 set at the Rose Bowl during the Gold medal game of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles between France and Brazil.
The opening ceremony for the 2000 Summer Olympics at the stadium completely sold out all 110,000 seats, while the highest attendance for any event in modern Olympic Games history was recorded with 114,714 at the stadium for the closing ceremony of the same Games. Musical acts for the closing ceremony were a "who's who" of Australian music including Kylie Minogue, John Williamson, John Paul Young, Jimmy Barnes, Midnight Oil, INXS (with Jon Stevens), Men at Work, and Slim Dusty who sang Waltzing Matilda. Also in attendance on stage during the closing ceremony were other famous Australians including golfer Greg Norman and comedian-actor Paul Hogan. The venue also hosted the same events during the 2000 Summer Paralympics.
Post-reconfiguration
On Saturday night of 23 August 2003, The AFL match Sydney Swans v Collingwood at the stadium set an attendance record for the largest crowd to watch an Australian rules football match outside Victoria with 72,393 spectators (87.7% capacity) attending and was the largest home-and-away AFL crowd at any Australian stadium for 2003. The attendance broke the record of 66,897 set at Football Park in Adelaide, South Australia on 28 September 1976 for the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) grand final between the Sturt and Port Adelaide Football Clubs.
2 October 2005 saw 82,453 attend the NRL grand final in which the Wests Tigers defeated the North Queensland Cowboys 30–16.
16 November 2005 saw 82,698 attend the second leg of the Oceania-South America Qualification Playoff game for qualification to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Australia defeated Uruguay 1–0, which led to a penalty shootout as Uruguay had won the first leg of the playoff 1–0. Australia won the shootout 4–2 and secured a spot in the World Cup for the first time since 1974. The penalty spot where John Aloisi's spot kick secured victory has been permanently preserved and is on public display at the stadium.
On 1 October 2006, the stadium hosted the 2006 NRL Grand Final between the Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm. It was the first time since the competition began in 1908 that two teams from outside of Sydney had contested the grand final. 79,609 fans saw the Broncos defeat the Storm 15–8. As of the 2018 NRL Grand Final, this is one of three times that no Sydney based team has contested the premiership decider and also the only time an NRL grand final at the Olympic Stadium has failed to attract at least 80,000 fans.
On 5 October 2008, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles defeated the Melbourne Storm 40–0 in the 2008 NRL Grand Final in front of 80,388 fans. This is the record winning margin for a grand final, breaking the previous record of 38–0 when Eastern Suburbs defeated St George in the 1975 Grand Final played at the Sydney Cricket Ground. 2008 was the centenary year of the competition. It was also the first time a team had been held scoreless in a grand final since Manly had defeated Cronulla-Sutherland 16–0 in the 1978 Grand Final Replay at the SCG (the original Grand Final that year had been drawn 11–11).
In February 2009, the stadium replaced its existing two television screens with new Panasonic HD LED video screens that measure 23x10m – 70% larger than the original screens, and 50% larger than the screens in the Beijing National Stadium, while consuming less power than the old screens. Additionally, an LED perimeter screen showcasing ANZ advertising has been installed on the second level from the 30m line to the 30m line.
25 September 2009 saw the largest ever NRL finals attendance (non-grand final) in competition history when 74,549 fans saw the Parramatta Eels defeat the Bulldogs RLFC 22–12 in the preliminary final of the 2009 NRL season. This beat the previous finals record of 57,973 set at the Sydney Cricket Ground for the preliminary final of the 1963 NSWRFL season which St George defeat Parramatta 12–7.
It hosted its first International Cricket match when Australia took on India in a Twenty20 night game on 1 February 2012.Busy summer for Australian cricket Wide World of Sports. Retrieved 14 June 2011. The match attracted a crowd of 59,569 which remains the largest crowd ever for a cricket match in New South Wales.
30 September 2012 saw the largest ever NRL Grand Final crowd since reconfiguration up until 2014 when 82,976 attended the 2012 NRL Grand Final to see the Melbourne Storm defeat the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 14–4. This number was nearly reached in the 2009 NRL Grand Final between the Storm and the Parramatta Eels, with 82,538 in attendance. On 13 and 14 December 2010, a U2 concert, one of the biggest in history, was held at the ANZ Stadium.
On 6 July 2013 a new rectangle configuration record attendance of 83,702 watched the British & Irish Lions defeat Australia 41–16 to win the Tom Richards Cup series by 2–1.
The record set by the Wallabies test was broken just 10 days later on 17 July when 83,813 (only 187 short of capacity) attended Game 3 of the 2013 State of Origin series. Queensland defeated NSW 12–10 to win their 8th straight Origin series. With 80,380 attending Game 1 at the stadium, the attendances also broke the Origin attendance records for the first and third game of a series. With the second game of the series attracting 51,690 to Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium, 2013 also broke the Origin series attendance record with 215,883 attending the three games.
On 6 September 2013, the largest ever NRL minor round attendance for a single game at the stadium was set when 59,708 saw eventual 2013 Premiers the Sydney Roosters defeat South Sydney 24–12 in the final round of the 2013 NRL season. This was also the largest single game minor round crowd in the history of the premiership dating back to 1908, breaking the previous record set at the ANZ Stadium in Brisbane (now known as the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre) on 27 August 1993 when St George defeated Brisbane 16–10 in Round 22 of the 1993 NSWRL season in front of 58,593 fans. The record crowd stood until 18 April 2025, when 65,305 people attended the Good Friday clash between the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and South Sydney.
On 18 June 2014, 83,421 fans saw NSW defeat Qld 6–4 in Game 2 of the 2014 State of Origin series. After having won Game 1 at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, the home side's win saw Queensland's eight year domination of Origin come to an end as New South Wales won their first series since 2005.
On 5 October 2014, a new post-reconfiguration attendance record of 83,833 saw South Sydney defeat Canterbury-Bankstown 30–6 in the 2014 NRL Grand Final. It was the Rabbitohs first grand final appearance and premiership win since 1971.