The Stadium Municipal d'Albi is a multi-purpose stadium in

Albi Albi (; oc, Albi ) is a commune in southern France. It is the prefecture of the Tarn department, on the river Tarn, 85 km northeast of Toulouse. Its inhabitants are called ''Albigensians'' (french: Albigeois, Albigeoise(s), oc, albigé ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is currently used for

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

as the home ground of

Racing Club Albi XIII Racing Club Albi XIII originally called Racing Club Albigeois XIII and more recently also known as Albi Tigers are a semi-professional rugby league team based in Albi in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie region in southern France. ...

and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

as the home of

SC Albi Sporting Club Albigeois is a professional French rugby union club playing the third-level Nationale. During the past years it went back and forth between Top 14, the highest level of the French league system and the second-level Rugby Pro D2. The ...

. After an expansion project completed in 2007, the stadium holds 13,000 with 8,000 seated.

History

Built and opened in 1964 the ground immediately became the home of the towns two rugby clubs Racing Club Albi XIII and Sporting Club Albi. The ground is also used for athletic meetings. The ground originally had a main cantilever stand which held 1,800 seated spectators and a smaller unseated stand for 1,200, at either end there were semi-circular standing terraces. Initially called Le Stadium, in 1977 the ground hosted the

French rugby league championship The French rugby league championship (french: Le Championnat de France de Rugby à XIII) has been the major rugby league tournament for semi-professional and professional clubs in France since the sport was introduced to the country in the 1930s. ...

Final despite the fact that

were in the final against

AS Carcassonne Association Sportive of Carcassonne are a semi-professional rugby league football club based in Carcassonne in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie in the south of France. They play in the French Elite One Championship and a ...

the 'home' side won 19–10 in front of 18,325 fans, which was and still is the record attendance. It hosted its first international rugby league match in 1979 when the

France national rugby league team The France national rugby league team represent France in international rugby league matches. They are referred to as ''les Chanticleers'' or less commonly as ''les Tricolores''. The team is run under the auspices of the Fédération Française ...

beat the

Papua New Guinea rugby league team The Papua New Guinea national rugby league team represents Papua New Guinea in the sport of rugby league football. In Papua New Guinea, Rugby league in Papua New Guinea, Rugby League is a highly popular sport and is regarded as the country's na ...

16–9. In 1987 the end terracing's were flattened to make way for an Olympic standard eight lane athletic track. At the 2000 Rugby League World Cup the ground played host to two group 3 matches

beat

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

56–6 in front of a crowd of 7,696 and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

beat

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

30–22 in front of a crowd of 3,666. The ground was renovated in 2006 and expanded in 2007 giving it its current capacity of 13,058.

Rugby League Internationals

French Rugby League Championship (Elite 1) Finals

Lord Derby Cup Finals

References

Rugby league stadiums in France Rugby union stadiums in France Rugby League World Cup stadiums Multi-purpose stadiums in France Athletics (track and field) venues in France Sports venues in Tarn (department) Sports venues completed in 1962 {{France-sports-venue-stub