The Swansea.com Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Swansea.com; formerly Liberty Stadium) is an all-seated sports stadium and conferencing venue located in the

Landore Landore ( cy, Glandŵr) is a district and community in Swansea, Wales. The district falls in the Landore council ward. A mainly residential area, it is located about 2.5 miles north of Swansea city centre. The north-easterly part of Landore i ...

area of

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the C ...

, Wales. The stadium opened in 2005 and was named the Liberty Stadium. It had an opening capacity of 20,750, making it the largest purpose-built venue in Swansea; minor layout changes have since increased this to 21,088. It is the home stadium of

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

, who took full operational control of the stadium in 2018, and the Ospreys rugby team. As a result of Swansea City's promotion in 2011, the stadium became the first

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

ground in Wales. It is the third largest stadium in Wales – after the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...

and the

Cardiff City Stadium The Cardiff City Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Dinas Caerdydd) is a stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales. It is the home of Cardiff City Football Club and the Wales national football team. Following expansion of the Ninian Stand in July 2014 ...

. In European competitions, the stadium is known as Swansea Stadium due to advertising rules.

History

With

Vetch Field The Vetch Field was a football stadium in Swansea, Wales. It was used for football matches and was the home ground of Swansea City until the club moved to the newly built Liberty Stadium in 2005. Opened in 1912, the ground held around 12,000 ...

, and Ospreys'

St Helen's St Helens or St. Helen's may refer to: Places Australia * St Helens, Queensland (Fraser Coast Region), a locality in the Fraser Coast Region * St Helens, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a locality in the Toowoomba Region * St Helens Beach, Queenslan ...

and

The Gnoll The Gnoll ( cy, Y Gnol) in Neath, Wales is a sports ground, with a capacity of 6,000 (formerly 15,000). It is used primarily for rugby union and rugby league, although it has also been used previously for association football and cricket. The stad ...

no longer being up-to-date venues to play at, and both the Swans and the Ospreys not having the necessary capital to invest into a new stadium, Swansea council and a developer-led consortia submitted a proposal for a sustainable '

bowl A bowl is a typically round dish or container generally used for preparing, serving, or consuming food. The interior of a bowl is characteristically shaped like a spherical cap, with the edges and the bottom forming a seamless curve. This makes ...

' venue for 20,520 seats on a site to the west of the

River Tawe The River Tawe (; cy, Afon Tawe ) is a long river in South Wales. Its headwaters flow initially east from its source below Llyn y Fan Fawr south of Moel Feity in the Black Mountains, the westernmost range of the Brecon Beacons National Pa ...

on the site of the

Morfa Stadium Morfa Stadium was an athletics stadium in the Landore area of Swansea, Wales. Constructed and in use since 1980, it was officially opened as Morfa Stadium on 20 April 1989 by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. The stadium was subsequently ...

, an

athletics stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

owned by the

City and County of Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

council. It was funded by a 355,000 ft retail park on land to the east of the river. The final value of the development was in excess of £50m. On 10 July 2005, the stadium was opened and became the home to Swansea City and Ospreys. On 23 July 2005, it was officially opened as Swansea City faced

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

, (then managed by former Swansea player Chris Coleman) in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

. The match ended in a 1–1 draw with the first goal being scored by Fulham's

Steed Malbranque Steed Claude Malbranque (born 6 January 1980) is a French former professional footballer. Malbranque started his professional career with Olympique Lyonnais, before moving to England in 2001, where he had spells with Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur an ...

. Swansea's

Marc Goodfellow Marc David Goodfellow (born 20 September 1981) is an English former footballer who played as a left-sided winger. He began his career with Stoke City in 2000, and played on Iceland with ÍBV the following year. He transferred to Bristol City ...

scored during the game to level the match. The first league game was held on 6 August, with Swansea defeating

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

through a single goal by debutant

Adebayo Akinfenwa Saheed Adebayo Akinfenwa (born 10 May 1982) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. Akinfenwa's professional breakthrough came at Doncaster Rovers, having spent time up until then in the lower leagues of English f ...

. Before a league match between

and

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

in October 2005, a statue of

Ivor Allchurch Ivor John Allchurch MBE (16 October 1929 – 10 July 1997) was a Welsh professional footballer who played for Swansea Town, Newcastle United and Cardiff City, as well as the Wales national football team. Known as the "Golden Boy of Welsh foot ...

(1929–1997) was unveiled to commemorate the

-born star who during two spells for the club scored a record 164 goals in 445 appearances. The first capacity crowd recorded at Liberty Stadium was on the 1 November 2006 when The Ospreys beat Australia A 24–16. The stadium has hosted multiple

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

football internationals, listed below. Seating at Liberty Stadium is often sold out during Swansea City football matches. Swansea City have expressed a desire to have the capacity of the stadium increased and have held talks with Swansea Council during the 2011–2012 season for the future expansion of the Liberty Stadium which would be completed in a number of phases beginning with expansion or redevelopment of the east stand. Plans for a new

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

fast food restaurant to be opened near the stadium threw expansion plans into doubt. However, the planning application was withdrawn. In December 2013, it was reported by ''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

'' that the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

had requested details of the funding of the stadium, as part of a wider inquiry into state aid for sports clubs. At the start of the 2014–15 Premier League season, a number of changes were made to the stadium. These included two new 'Jumbotron' screens inside the north and south stands, measuring approximately 200 inches. Due to sponsorship by LG all televisions in food outlets and concourse were replaced by 50" LG TV screens and the south stand renamed The LG Stand. New advertising boards with a crowd facing side were also added. Expansions planned would expand the stadium to 33,000, with another expansion upgrading the stadium to above the 40,000 mark. This would make Wales national football matches a possibility. In July 2018, Swansea City AFC took full ownership of the stadium, after reaching an agreement with Swansea City Council. It was agreed that Ospreys RFC could continue to share the stadium.

Naming

During its construction, a variety of names were suggested for it: most commonly used was "White Rock" stadium (after the copper works of the same name which existed on the site historically). However "White Rock" was only used as a temporary name during its construction and when work was finished, the name was dropped and the stadium owners began looking for sponsors for the stadium. While sponsors were being searched for, it was called "New Stadium Swansea". On 18 October 2005, Swansea-based developers Liberty Properties Plc won the naming rights to call it "Liberty Stadium". In

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

matches, it is called Swansea Stadium due to UEFA regulations on sponsorship. On 8 May 2015 the stadium was renamed The Katie Phillips Stadium for one night only. On 9 August 2021, the stadium was renamed the Swansea.com stadium following a 10-year contract being agreed with Swansea.com, a business which shares director Martin Morgan with Swansea City.

International fixtures

The ground has also hosted eight

international football fixtures. The first was the first Wales match in Swansea for 17 years, and saw local player John Hartson

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

the team for the first time, in a goalless draw against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. The first competitive game and first victory was a 2–0 win over Switzerland in

UEFA Euro 2012 qualification The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, held in Poland and Ukraine. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held ...

on 7 October 2011. The most recent game was a goalless draw against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on 12 November 2020, the first Wales game at the venue for seven years. The results were as follows:

Other uses

Concerts

Politics

In April 2014, the stadium held a

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...

conference.

Statistics and average attendances

*Stadium capacity: 21,088 *Record attendance: 20,999 vs Cardiff Blues 1 May 2016 *First international game held:

, 17 August 2005. ''Average attendances are for home league matches only.''

Gallery

File:Liberty Stadium rugby.jpg File:Liberty Stadium interior - 1.jpg File:Liberty Stadium interior - 2.jpg File:Liberty Stadium interior - 3.jpg File:Ivor Allchurch.JPG File:Robbie James Wall of Fame.JPG

References

External links

*
Swansea City Council

Swansea City AFC

Ospreys Regional Rugby Team
{{Authority control Football venues in Wales Rugby union stadiums in Wales Swansea City A.F.C. Ospreys (rugby union) Sports venues in Swansea Stadiums in Swansea Buildings and structures in Swansea Sports venues completed in 2005 Premier League venues English Football League venues