Stade Raoul-Barrière (), formerly Stade de la Méditerranée (), is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used for multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a design philosophy that stres ...

Béziers Béziers (; ) is a city in southern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. Every August Béziers ho ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The stadium is able to hold 18,555 (16,110 seated) people and was built in 1989. It is currently used mostly for

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

matches and is the home stadium of

AS Béziers Hérault Association sportive de Béziers Hérault (; ), often referred to by rugby media simply by its location of Béziers, is a French rugby union club currently playing in the second level of the country's professional rugby system, Pro D2. They earn ...

. On October 4, 1991, it hosted a

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup () was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Six Nations Championship, Five Na ...

Pool 4 match between France and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

with France winning 30 - 3. It hosted the first two Pool C matches of the

1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup () was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's History of rugby union#The professional era, professional era. Four a ...

. On October 1, it hosted

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

versus

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

with Fiji winning 67 - 18. The following day, it hosted quin-hosts France versus

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

with France winning 33. - 20. In addition to AS Béziers Hérault matches, the stadium has hosted

Castres Olympique Castres Olympique (, ) is a French rugby union club located in the Occitanian city of Castres and is currently competing in the Top 14, the top level of the French league system. Founded in 1898, the club took its current name in 1906. They pla ...

rugby union matches versus Toulouse in August 2010, and versus Stade Français in August 2014. On 9 March, 2018, it hosted

Six Nations Under 20s Championship The Six Nations Under 20s Championship is an international rugby union tournament. It is the under-20s equivalent of the Six Nations Championship. Originally the tournament was in an under-21 format but changed to under-20s in 2008. England ...

between

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

with France losing 6–22. The stadium is also used to host

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

Internationals. On December 4, 1994,

hosted

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in Béziers. In

Mal Meninga Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the game's history. He enjoyed a long ca ...

's last match, 8,000 people saw the Kangaroos run out 74-0 winners. More recently, Stade de la Méditerranée has been used as the home ground for the France-based Moroccan national team. On 15 August 2009 Stade de la Méditerranée hosted another

game in which

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French language, French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan language, Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. Despite being based in France the ...

hosted Hull F.C. in front of 6,500 fans. Catalans Dragons ran out winners with an 18 - 6 win over Hull FC. In May 2019, the stadium was renamed the Raoul-Barrière Stadium in honor of the Grand Béziers coach two months after his death..

References

Mediteranee Multi-purpose stadiums in France Sports venues in Hérault Sports venues completed in 1990 Sport in Béziers {{France-sports-venue-stub