ANZ Stadium or formerly known as Telstra Stadium, is located in the Australian metropolis, Sydney, New South Wales in Sydney Olympic Park. It is also known as the Homebush Stadium or the Olympic Stadium.
It has a capacity of holding 115,000 people at a time. It was the main venue for the 2000 Olympics held in Sydney.
The stadium is home to the Australian football club, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Sydney Swans, the rugby team South Sydney Rabbitohs, Wests Tigers and St. George Illawarra Dragons.
History
The construction of the ANZ Stadium began in 1993 and ended in the year 1999, at a cost of about $690 million. It was exclusively designed to host the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The first sporting event held on the stadium was the rugby league football, where more than 100,000 people gathered to witness the play. The stadium formally opened in June 1999 when the Australian National Soccer team participated in the FIFA All-Stars. Australia received a 3–2 win in the presence of more than 88,000 fans.
Major Matches
The stadium majorly hosted rugby and football matches. It has hosted many English Premier League teams to play against the home team Sydney FC.
In 2014, Juventus legend Alessandro Del Piero played from Sydney FC, making it the first time that he was playing against Juventus. Several matches of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup were also held in this stadium.
In 2002, the stadium hosted Motorcycle speedway with the Speedway Grand Prix of Australia.
Recent Matches
In 2017, the stadium hosted the NRL Premiership Round. The 2017 NRL Grand Final between the Melbourne Storm and the North Queensland Cowboys was also held at the ANZ Stadium. Melbourne Storm defeated the North Queensland Cowboys.
It hosted matches of Arsenal, Liverpool and Wanderers against Sydney FC in 2017.
