Stade de France

File:World championships in athletics 2003 Paris Saint-Denis stadium.jpg]]

Stade de France has a movable stand which can be retracted to uncover part of the athletics track.{{cite web|url=http://www.stadefrance.fr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=122&Itemid=257|title=Stade de France – Key figures|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061124072526/http://www.stadefrance.fr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=122&Itemid=257|archive-date=24 November 2006|df=dmy-all}} The stadium was notably designed with the assistance of a software simulation of crowd in order to get an accurate observation of how it would look fully developed. The facility was also intended to draw interest in and develop the area of the Plaine Saint-Denis, which straddle the communes of Saint-Denis, Aubervilliers, and Saint-Ouen. The primary goal was to renovate the area by building new residential and tertiary sites.

The stadium was built without any undersoil heating as noted when Ireland were due to play France in the Six Nations Tournament rugby union match of 2012, when the game had to be canceled.

In 2002, the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) awarded a prize recognizing the unique structure of the stadium, commenting that Stade de France exhibited "a construction of an attractive open architecture of the city, with an elegance and natural lightness".

File:Pose du dernier troncon de la toiture du stade de france.jpg

Construction of the stadium's roof cost over €45 million. Its elliptical shape symbolizes the universality of sport in France. Its area of six hectares and weight, 13,000 tons, is considered a technical marvel by many. It was designed to easily protect the 80,000 spectators without covering the playing field. All lighting and sound, which include 550 lights and 36 blocks of 5 speakers, are housed inside to avoid obstructing visibility. The tinted glass in the center reduces the contrast and distributes natural light. It filters out red and infrared radiation, however, it allows blue and green lights, due to their necessity involving the health of the turf.

File:Stade De France Vestiaires Visiteurs.jpg

Stade de France is the biggest modular stadium in the world. With a three modules structure, the first module has 25,000 seats. It is reached by level 1. It is partially retractable. To reveal the running track and jumping pits, the rear sections are lowered 7.1 m, then the inner sections retract 15 m into the space created,{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQXdii-ooyg |title=Mengintip Kecanggihan Retractable Seating Tribun Stade de France |date=2022-05-31 |last=Jagad Stadium |access-date=2024-08-05 |via=YouTube}} carried by ten distinct elements of 700 tons each. The tier then retains 22,000 seats. The transition takes 40 people and lasts 80 hours.

Access to the middle tier is through 22 bridges and can be found at level 3 with a concentration of restaurants, entertainment areas, shops and central station security.

Eighteen staircases lead viewers to the upper tier located at Level 6.

The evacuation procedures at the Stade de France are initiated about fifteen minutes prior to closing time. However, the actual time it takes to fully evacuate the stadium can vary depending on the number of attendees and the specific circumstances.

Located at 11 meters below the court, the playing area measures 9,000 square meters (120 meters long and 75 meters wide) to a grassed area of 11,000 square meters. Nearly one billion seeds were sown to produce the first pitch in 1997. Today, the grass comes in rolls of 1.20 m x 8 m. Changing the pitch calls for three days of preparation and five days of installation. The change takes place several times a year, depending on the programming stage.

Unlike many other stadiums, Stade de France was built without under pitch heating, as the stadium was constructed on the site of an old gasworks,{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/french-humiliated-by-frozen-pitch-1142578.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/french-humiliated-by-frozen-pitch-1142578.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live | work=The Independent | first1=John | last1=Lichfield | date=3 February 1998 | location=London | title=French humiliated by frozen pitch}} and there were concerns{{by whom|date=August 2021}} it could cause an explosion.

File:Stade de France 5 August 2024.jpg

As part of its policy of renewing its infrastructure, Stade de France added two new big screens in September 2006. The new displays have a surface 58% greater than the previous screens installed in 1998. The newer giant screens are each composed of 4,423,680 light emitting diodes. They have faster response time and are brighter than the previous screens.{{cn|date=June 2022}}

File:Argentina vs. France, 2024 Summer Olympic rugby sevens, men's quarter-final, 2024-07-25 (6) (cropped).jpg]]

Sporting events held at Stade de France include matches (preliminary contests as well as finals) of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, 2007 Rugby World Cup, UEFA Euro 2016 and the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The MLB World Tour in 2025 was also planned for the venue but was ultimately cancelled. It also hosted the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final after being moved from the Gazprom Arena in Russia due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.{{Cite web|last=UEFA.com|date=2022-02-25|title=2022 UEFA Champions League final to be held at Stade de France in Paris|url=https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0272-14876a9f349c-c61e3670721f-1000--2022-uefa-champions-league-final-to-be-held-at-stade-de-france-/|access-date=2022-02-25|website=UEFA|language=en}}

The following is the list of major matches held:

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The stadium is also used for large-scale music concerts. Global acts such as The Rolling Stones, Beyoncé, Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Muse, Metallica, Prince, U2, Mylène Farmer, Guns N' Roses, Rihanna, AC/DC, Justin Timberlake, Céline Dion, Tina Turner, Jay-Z, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, Madonna, The Police, Rammstein and BTS have performed here.{{Cite web |date=2022-04-26 |title=Homepage B2C |url=https://accueil.stadefrance.com/fr/accueil |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=Stade de France |language=fr}}

On 12 May 2012, the French heavy metal band Gojira performed at the stadium as the opening act for Metallica during their European Black Album Tour.{{cite news|last=Bureau|first=Eric|date=12 May 2012|title=Metallica embrase le Stade de France|trans-title=Metallica sets the Stade de France ablaze|url=https://www.leparisien.fr/culture-loisirs/en-images-metallica-enflamme-le-stade-de-france-12-05-2012-1997194.php|url-status=live|language=fr|work=Le Parisien|location=Paris|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210116204511/https://www.leparisien.fr/culture-loisirs/en-images-metallica-enflamme-le-stade-de-france-12-05-2012-1997194.php|archive-date=16 January 2021|access-date=26 March 2021}} Gojira's concert was measured at 120 decibels in the corridors backstage, which broke the record for the loudest sound ever recorded at Stade de France.{{cite news|last1=Bureau|first1=Eric|last2=Guillo|first2=Jean-Nicholas|date=27 April 2020|orig-date=First published 12 February 2017|title=Le métal de Gojira fait trembler l'Amérique|trans-title=Gojira's metal shakes America|url=https://www.leparisien.fr/culture-loisirs/musique/video-le-metal-de-gojira-fait-trembler-l-amerique-12-02-2017-6673989.php|url-status=live|language=fr|work=Le Parisien|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210116181137/https://www.leparisien.fr/culture-loisirs/musique/video-le-metal-de-gojira-fait-trembler-l-amerique-12-02-2017-6673989.php|archive-date=16 January 2021|access-date=26 March 2021}}

On 11 April 2015, the crowd noise produced by the 80,000 people at Stade de France during the 2015 Coupe de la Ligue Final reached 109 decibels, which set the world record for the noisiest stadium recorded during a final match of a football tournament.{{cite news|author=|title=Le Stade de France bat un record du monde de décibels|trans-title=Stade de France breaks a world decibel record|url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/le-scan-sport/buzz/2015/04/11/27002-20150411ARTFIG00161-le-stade-de-france-bat-un-record-du-monde-de-decibels.php|url-status=live|language=fr|work=Le Figaro|location=Paris|date=11 April 2015|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210116210911/https://www.lefigaro.fr/le-scan-sport/buzz/2015/04/11/27002-20150411ARTFIG00161-le-stade-de-france-bat-un-record-du-monde-de-decibels.php|archive-date=16 January 2021|access-date=26 March 2021}}

Stade de France has as a regular tenant only the national football and national rugby teams. Repeated attempts to persuade a professional football or rugby team to move there have failed so far. Upon the construction of the stadium, Paris Saint-Germain declined to move there, choosing to remain at the Parc des Princes under pressure from its then-owner (pay-TV network Canal Plus) and the Paris city government.{{cn|date=May 2024}}

However, the Paris rugby club Stade Français have now established themselves as a semi-regular tenant. They began by scheduling their Top 14 home fixture on 15 October 2005 against Toulouse at Stade de France. Stade Français's president, Max Guazzini, publicly said that the club would have to sell 25,000 to 30,000 tickets to break even. Three weeks before the match, 61,000 tickets had been sold, setting a French record for tickets sold to a league match for any sport, including football. The final attendance was 79,454, smashing the national attendance record for a league match in any sport by more than 20,000. Five minutes before the end of the Toulouse match, Guazzini announced to the crowd that Stade Français's scheduled home fixture against Biarritz in March 2006 would also be held at Stade de France.[http://www.planet-rugby.com/Tournaments/Top_14/story_46763.shtml Plant Rugby news story] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051219182153/http://www.planet-rugby.com/Tournaments/Top_14/story_46763.shtml |date=19 December 2005 }} The Stade-Biarritz match broke the attendance record from earlier in the season, with 79,604 present.{{cn|date=May 2024}}

Guazzini then booked Stade de France for the same two league fixtures in 2006–07. The Biarritz match on 16 October 2006 drew 79,619, making this the third consecutive Stade Français fixture at Stade de France to set an all-time French attendance record. The record was broken yet again at a match against Toulouse on 27 January 2007, with 79,741 filling the stands. Stade Français went on to schedule three home matches at Stade de France in the 2007–08 season. For the 2008–09 season, they booked Stade de France for three home league matches and a Heineken Cup pool match. The number of Stade Français home matches at Stade de France increased again for 2009–10, with five Top 14 fixtures already announced for the stadium.{{cn|date=May 2024}}

Even with the lack of a regular league tenant, the stadium's revenue increased greatly in 2007, as it was used extensively during the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, where it hosted numerous pool matches, a quarterfinal match, both of the semi-finals and the final.{{cn|date=May 2024}}

The Lille OSC football team played all its "home" games in European competition during the 2005–06 season, both in the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup, at Stade de France because its own stadium was then under renovation, and the only nearer alternative on French soil, Stade Félix-Bollaert, was not available as that ground's occupant, Lille's local rival Lens, was also participating in the UEFA Cup. Stade de France has hosted the Champions League final on three occasions: 2000 (Real Madrid 3 Valencia 0), 2006 (Barcelona 2 Arsenal 1), and 2022 (Real Madrid 1 Liverpool 0).

France's governing body for rugby union, the French Rugby Federation (FFR), announced in November 2010 that it would not renew its deal to use Stade de France for international rugby matches when it expired in 2013. FFR also stated that it planned to build a new stadium of its own in the Paris region.{{cite news|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/9229158.stm|title = French national rugby team plan to quit Stade de France|publisher = BBC Sport|date = 25 November 2010|access-date = 6 July 2012}}

Reportedly, the FFR had become increasingly frustrated with several aspects of the deal. According to rugby journalist Ian Moriarty, "The deal with the Stade de France has been a disaster for the FFR financially over the years, forcing France's powerbrokers to look across the English channel at the RFU's Twickenham cash cow with ever increasing envy."{{cite web|url = http://www.espnscrum.com/france/rugby/story/166611.html|title = Money talks|first = Ian|last = Moriarty|website = ESPN Scrum|date = 5 July 2012|access-date = 6 July 2012}} Reports vary widely as to how much the FFR must spend to rent out the stadium, but estimates range from €3 million to €5 million{{cite web|url = http://www.espnscrum.com/france/rugby/story/166342.html|title = France announce plans for new stadium|website = ESPN Scrum|date = 29 June 2012|access-date = 6 July 2013}} per match. Although Stade de France and Twickenham are roughly the same size, the rental expense means that the FFR reportedly makes about one-third as much from a Stade de France sellout as does the RFU from a sellout at Twickenham. In addition, the national rugby team does not enjoy primacy at Stade de France; the national football team and major concerts take priority. FFR had to move two of its 2010–11 home Tests to Montpellier and Nantes due to fixture clashes with the national football team. Also, former FFR president Serge Blanco claimed that the 2009 Top 14 final had to be moved from May to June because of a conflict with a Johnny Hallyday rock concert.

In June 2012, FFR announced that it had selected the site for its new ground, tentatively known as Grand Stade FFR.{{cite web|url = http://www.ffr.fr/index.php/ffr/rugby_francais/projet_stade|title = Projet Stade|publisher = French Rugby Federation|language = fr|access-date = 6 July 2012|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120615060530/http://www.ffr.fr/index.php/ffr/rugby_francais/projet_stade|archive-date = 15 June 2012|df = dmy-all}} The 82,000-seat stadium, featuring a retractable roof and slide-out pitch, was to be built on a former horse racing track in Évry, about {{convert|25|km|abbr=on}} south of Paris. The new stadium, estimated to cost €600 million, was originally scheduled to open in 2017, but completion was later pushed back to the 2021/2022 time frame.{{cite web |url=http://grandstaderugby.fr/le-stade/les-dates-cles/ |title=Le Stade: Les dates clés |publisher=French Rugby Federation |language=fr |access-date=5 September 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024144722/http://grandstaderugby.fr/le-stade/les-dates-cles/ |archive-date=24 October 2016 |df=dmy-all }} FFR officially abandoned the stadium project in December 2016.{{cite news|url=http://www.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12508/10695930/the-french-rugby-federation-abandon-plans-for-new-stadium |title=The French rugby federation abandon plans for new stadium |first=Charlotte |last=Bates |publisher=Sky Sports |date=14 December 2016 |access-date=12 February 2017}}

Although located at the crossroads of auto-routes A1 and A86, it is not advisable to go there by car unless one has reserved parking. The stadium was built with a very limited number of parking spaces, which is why public transportation is considered the primary means of getting to the stadium. River shuttles are provided by the Canal Saint-Denis.

As part of the Grand Paris Express project and 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, a new station at {{stn|Saint-Denis–Pleyel}} is under construction, connected by a bridge to the Stade de France–Saint-Denis station. Initially served by Line 14 in time for the Games, the station will eventually serve 4 different Métro lines.{{Cite web|date=2017-05-03|title=Saint-Denis Pleyel|url=https://www.societedugrandparis.fr/gpe/gare/saint-denis-pleyel|access-date=2021-08-04|website=Société du Grand Paris|language=fr}}{{Cite web|date=July 2018|title=GARE SAINT-DENIS PLEYEL - LE CŒUR DU GRAND PARIS EXPRESS|url=https://media-mediatheque.societedugrandparis.fr/medias/domain1/media670/101129-whpwdqkphw.pdf|website=Société du Grand Paris|language=fr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111101626/https://media-mediatheque.societedugrandparis.fr/medias/domain1/media670/101129-whpwdqkphw.pdf|archive-date=11 January 2020|url-status=live}}

• List of tourist attractions in Paris
• List of football stadiums in France
• List of national stadiums
• List of rugby union stadiums by capacity
• Lists of stadiums

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Stade de France}}

• {{Official website|http://accueil.stadefrance.com/}}
• [http://www.stadiumguide.com/stadedefrance/ Stadium Guide Article]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20040603211922/http://www.planet-rugby.com/stats/grounds/index.phtml/p_r/ENG?venueCode=PARS&setCode=archive Stats for all rugby matches played at the Stade de France]
• [http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/ Rugby World Cup 2007]
• [http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=686540f090eecd0f4c6777fed7c8d2f4 Le Stade de France 3D model (GoogleSketchup)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101063921/http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=686540f090eecd0f4c6777fed7c8d2f4 |date=1 January 2014 }}

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title=FIFA World Cup
Opening venue|

before=Soldier Field
Chicago|

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Seoul|

years=1998

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title=FIFA World Cup
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before=Rose Bowl
Los Angeles (Pasadena)|

after=International Stadium
Yokohama|

years=1998

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title=UEFA Champions League
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before=Camp Nou
Barcelona|

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Milan|

years=2000

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title=FIFA Confederations Cup
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before=International Stadium
Yokohama|

after=Waldstadion
Frankfurt |

years=2003

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title=IAAF World Championships in Athletics
Main venue|

before=Commonwealth Stadium
Edmonton|

after=Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Helsinki|

years=2003

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title=UEFA Champions League
Final venue|

before=Atatürk Olympic Stadium
Istanbul|

after=Olympic Stadium
Athens|

years=2006

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title=Rugby World Cup
Final venue|

before=Telstra Stadium
Sydney|

after=Eden Park
Auckland|

years=2007

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| title = UEFA European Championship
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| years = 2016

| before = NSC Olimpiyskiy
Kyiv

| after=Wembley Stadium
London

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| title = UEFA Champions League
Final venue

| before = Estádio do Dragão
Porto

| after = Atatürk Olympic Stadium
Istanbul

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title=Rugby World Cup
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before=International Stadium
Yokohama|

after=TBD|

years=2023

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| before = Japan National Stadium
Tokyo

| title = Summer Olympics
Athletics competitions
Main venue

| years = 2024

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