Waratahs Super Rugby Stadium

Allianz Stadium

– 45,500 (venue capacity)

Allianz Stadium (Formerly known as the Sydney Football Stadium, or SFS) was built in 1988 to be the premium “rectangular field” in Sydney, Australia. Its primary use was for rugby league, but association football and rugby union also used the ground for major matches, and later for domestic competition.

Prior to its construction, major events were usually held at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), which being an Oval field was not ideal for the sports.

The SFS was built in Moore Park, adjacent to the SCG, on the grounds of the former Sydney Sportsground and is owned by the SCG Trust. Its seating capacity is 41,159, although the venue’s official record attendance for a sporting event stands at 43,967, for the 1993 FIFA World Cup Qualifier when Australia played Argentina.

In 2002 the SFS was renamed Aussie Stadium – in a 5 Year + 5 Year naming rights deal with the business Aussie Home Loans. Due to sponsorship reasons the stadium is now known as Allianz  Stadium (since 2012).

Allianz Stadium is home to several professional teams:

Sydney Roosters NRL rugby league
New South Wales Waratahs Super rugby union
Sydney FC A-League football (soccer)

Aussie Stadium usually hosts both NRL semi finals and one preliminary final, and also held the annual pre-season Charity Shield rugby league match between South Sydney and St George Illawarra for a number of years.

Most major representative rugby football matches in Sydney that were once played at the SFS, such as State of Origin rugby league and rugby union Internationals, have been played at Telstra Stadium (Stadium Australia) since it was finished in 1999 for the 2000 Olympic Games. This much larger new stadium took a lot of the major events away from the SFS, leaving it as a second-tier venue although it is far from a white elephant.

Aussie Stadium is currently under renovations to expand capacity to 45,500.