The stadium that plays host to the opening Euro 2016 fixture between France and Romania, and the Euro 2016 final, which will not be France against Romania, is the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.
With a capacity of 81,338, the Stade de France, home of the French national team, is by far the largest stadium chosen to host Euro 2016 games, and is the only stadium from the 10 selected that has not had a single cent spent on renovations.
One of the new stadia on the list of Euro 2016 venues is the home of Olympique Lyonnais, the Grande Stade. When packed to the rafters, the stadium has 59,186 seats, although it has never been completely full as its record attendance is 56,661. It should see a crowd similar to that on June 13 when Belgium take on Italy.
Third on the list is the beautiful Stade Velodrome, the home to Olympique Marseille. The once great French team has fallen from grace in recent years. Who can forget the bribery scandal of the 1980s? Here’s hoping that the only things being passed around the stadium at Euro 2016 are banners and flags, not manila envelopes stuffed with cash!
Head to Lille and you’ll find the Stade Pierre Mauroy, which is named after the former Prime Minister of France. A cool €324,000 has been spent giving the place a fresh lick of paint, and it should be well received by fans of Germany and Ukraine on June 12, plus the blockbuster clash between Italy and Republic of Ireland on June 22. We wonder, if booze was permitted at Euro 2016 games, how much would have been spent on installing extra Guinness pumps?
The Matmut Atlantique, home of Bordeaux, hosts five matches and a quarter-final. Construction began in 2013 and ended in April 2015. The 42,115 capacity stadium opened on May 18, 2015. What do you think of the exterior of the stadium? A little weird, right?
Perhaps the most famous of the Euro 2016 stadiums, with the exception of the Stade de France, is the Parc des Princes in Paris. The 48,527 capacity home to French giants Paris St. Germain was built in 1897 and is steeped in history and character, and is renowned for having one of the best atmospheres in the world, which is a shame seeing how it hosts Turkey versus Croatia, and Romania versus Switzerland for its first two games.
The other venues include the Allianz Riviera in Nice, the Stadium de Toulouse which once hosted a Michael Jackson concert – and hopefully a thriller of a Euro 2016 fixture, the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard and its lack of corners, and Lens’ Stade Bollaert-Delelis which hosts the England versus Wales encounter on June 16 which has hit the headlines due to the neighbouring town banning alcohol during Euro 2016.
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