The Philippine Sports Stadium, also known as New Era University (NEU) Stadium, is a football and track stadium at

Ciudad de Victoria Ciudad de Victoria (Spanish for "City of Victory" or "Victory City") also known as the Philippine Arena Complex is a 140-hectare tourism enterprise zone in the towns of Bocaue and Santa Maria in Bulacan, Philippines. It is located north of Metro ...

, a tourism enterprise zone in the towns of

Bocaue Bocaue, officially the Municipality of Bocaue ( tgl, Bayan ng Bocaue), is a 1st class municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of ...

and

Santa Maria, Bulacan Santa Maria ( , ), officially the Municipality of Santa Maria ( tgl, Bayan ng Santa Maria), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 289,820 people. representin ...

, Philippines. The stadium was built right next to the

Philippine Arena The Philippine Arena is the world's largest indoor arena. It is a multipurpose indoor arena with a maximum seating capacity of 55,000 at Ciudad de Victoria, a 140-hectare tourism enterprise zone in Bocaue and Santa Maria, Bulacan, Philippin ...

, the world's largest indoor arena. The stadium is the largest football stadium in the Philippines with a maximum

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 25,000. Its seating capacity is more than twice the seating capacity of the

Rizal Memorial Stadium The Rizal Memorial Track and Football Stadium (simply known as the Rizal Memorial Stadium; officially the Simeon Toribio Track Stadium) is the main stadium of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila, Philippines. It served as the main stad ...

which has a seating capacity of 12,000. PWP Landscape Architecture is responsible for the landscaping work on the area around the stadium dubbed as the Stadium Gardens. In December 2016, it was reported that the track and field team of the

University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; fil, Pamantasan ng Pilipinas Unibersidad ng Pilipinas) is a state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by Republic Act No. 9500 (UP Charter of 20 ...

is a tenant of the stadium.

Sporting events

Football

Club

The first football match and major sporting event to be held at the Philippine Sports Stadium was between clubs

Global Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

and Yadanarbon on April 15, 2015. About 2,000 people attended the match. The Philippine-based Global defeated Yadanarbon of

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, 4–1 in a group stage match at the 2015 AFC Cup.

Mark Hartmann Mark Andrew Calibjo Hartmann (born January 20, 1992) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward or an attacking midfielder for Thai League 2 club Nakhon Si United and the Philippines national team. Club career As a youngster, Har ...

was the first football player to make a goal at the stadium scoring at the 16th minute from a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

Yan Paing Yan Paing ( my, ရန်ပိုင်) born 27 November 1983 in Yangon) is a Burmese footballer who plays for the Myanmar national football team. He also plays with Yadanarbon in Myanmar National League. Yan Paing is a key striker for the M ...

was the first foreigner and football player from a foreign-based club to make a goal at the stadium scoring the lone goal for his team at the 19th minute.

International

The first full international game held in the stadium was between the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

which took place on June 11, 2015 as part of the second round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The Philippines defeated Bahrain 2–1 with

Misagh Bahadoran Misagh Medina Bahadoran ( fa, میثاق بهادران, Mithāq Bhāderan; born January 10, 1987) is a Filipino footballer who plays as a winger or forward for Maharlika Manila in the Philippines Football League and the Philippines natio ...

scoring his first international goal in the 50th minute which is also the first goal made for a national team side at the stadium.

Javier Patiño Javier Lachica Patiño (; born February 14, 1988) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. He represented the Philippines national team from 2013 to 2019. Born in Spain to a Spanish father and Filipino mother, Patiño beg ...

was the other scorer for the Philippine side scoring 10 minutes later after Bahadoran's goal.

Abdulwahab Al Malood Abdulwahab Abdelrahman Hedaib Isa Ali Al-Malood (Arabic: عبد الوهاب المالود; born 7 June 1990 in Muharraq, Bahrain) is Bahraini footballer who plays for Al-Hidd in Bahraini Premier League as a midfielder. He is a member of Bahra ...

scored a consolation goal for Bahrain in 3 minutes into extra time, becoming the first goalscorer for a foreign national team side. The match was attended by about 6,000 people.

Rugby union

The first rugby tournament held in the stadium was the 2015 Asian Rugby Championship Division 1 tournament, which hosted the teams of

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, Sri Lanka,

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

and the

on May 6 and 9, 2015. The first rugby match was a match between

and the

held on May 6, with the hosts winning the match in extra time with the scoreline of 20–17. The Philippines later lost to Sri Lanka in the finals with the scoreline of 14–27.

Other events

The stadium has also been used for concerts and non-sporting events. Along with the

, the Philippine Sports Stadium was used as a venue for the Iglesia ni Cristo's centennial celebration event held on July 27, 2014 with the stadium filled with 20,000 people during the rites. The stadium also held concerts of local artists as part of the 2015 New Year's Countdown event.

References

{{Iglesia ni Cristo Athletics (track and field) venues in the Philippines Football venues in the Philippines Buildings and structures in Bulacan Sports in Bulacan Sports venues completed in 2014 2014 establishments in the Philippines