The
Millennium Stadium (
Stadiwm y Mileniwm) is the
national stadium of
Wales, located in the capital city,
Cardiff. It is the home of the
Wales national rugby union team and also frequently stages games of the
Wales national football team, but is also host to many other large-scale events, such as the
Tsunami Relief concert, the
Super Special Stage of
Wales Rally Great Britain, the
Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain, and
various music concerts. It was built to host the
1999 Rugby World Cup.
The Millennium Stadium is owned by Millennium Stadium plc which is a
subsidiary company of the
Welsh Rugby Union (WRU). The stadium was designed by a team led by architects Bligh Lobb Sports Architecture, who merged to become HOK Sport Venue Event, which would be renamed
Populous in early 2009.
WS Atkins were the structural engineers, and the building contractor was
Laing. The total construction cost of the stadium was
£121 million, of which the
Millennium Commission funded £46 million.
The stadium opened in June 1999, and the first major event to be held was an international
rugby union match on 26 June 1999, when
Wales beat
South Africa in a
friendly by 29–19, before a test crowd of 29,000. With total
seating capacity of 74,500, it is the third largest stadium in the
Six Nations Championship behind the
Stade de France and
Twickenham, which is the largest. It is also the second largest stadium in the world with a fully
retractable roof, and was the second stadium in Europe to have this feature.