Stade Vélodrome

Stade Vélodrome
UEFA capacity: 67,000
Tenants: Olympique de Marseille
Reopened: October 2014 (originally opened June 1937)

• Famously open to the elements in the past, the renovated stadium now features a roof. The estimated €267m makeover was carried out with the team still playing matches there, and was completed in September 2014.

• On 16 October 2014, the new Vélodrome was inaugurated by the mayor of Marseille, Jean-Claude Gaudin, joined by UEFA's operations director, Martin Kallen, two members of the French government – sports minister Patrick Kanner and secretary of state for sports Thierry Braillard – and Martin Bouygues, CEO of Bouygues Group.

• The Stade Vélodrome opened its doors to visitors on the last weekend of October 2014 – 55,000 people headed down to the stadium and were able to visit the behind-the-scenes areas, the roof and the pitch.

• As its name suggests, Stade Vélodrome possessed a cycling track when it first opened in 1937, though the new venue's opening ceremony was capped by a football match between Marseille and Italian side Torino FC.

• The stadium has also hosted sports as varied as athletics, rugby, boxing, tennis, hockey and even motorsports, though its days as an all-purpose arena ended when the cycling track was finally removed in 1985.

• Stade Vélodrome staged matches at the 1938 and 1998 FIFA World Cups, with its capacity increased to 60,000 for the latter tournament; it also hosted games at the 1960 and 1984 UEFA European Championships.

• Located in the south of the city, on the north bank of the Huveaune river, the Vélodrome has regularly been used as a concert venue since the 1980s and has also hosted political rallies.

UEFA EURO 2016 matches
Group stage
11/06/16, 21.00: England v Russia
15/06/16, 21.00: France v Albania
18/06/16, 18.00: Iceland v Hungary
21/06/16, 18.00: Ukraine v Poland

Quarter-finals
30/06/16, 21.00: W37 v W39

Semi-finals
07/07/16, 21.00: W47 v W48

All kick-off times CET.

www.arema-velodrome.com/