The Millennium Stadium is the national stadium of Wales, located in the capital, Cardiff. It is the home of the Wales national rugby union team and also frequently stages games of the Wales national football team, but is also host to many other large scale events, such as the Super Special Stage of Wales Rally Great Britain, Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain, boxing and many music concerts, including Tina Turner, Madonna, The Rolling Stones, U2, Stereo phonics, Paul McCartney, and the Tsunami Relief concert. It was built to host the 1999 Rugby World Cup.
The Millennium Stadium is owned by Millennium Stadium palace which is a subsidiary company of the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU). The stadium was designed by a team led by architects Bligh Lob Sports Architecture, who merged to become HOK Sport Venue Event, which would be renamed Populous in early 2009. WS Atkins was the structural engineers, and the building contractor was Laing. The total construction cost of the stadium was £121 million, of which the Millennium Commission funded £46 million.
The stadium opened in June 1999 and the first major event to be held was an international rugby union match on 26 June 1999, when Wales beat South Africa in a friendly by 29–19, before a test crowd of 29,000. With total seating capacity of 72,500, it is the third largest stadium in the Six Nations Championship behind the Stade de France and Twickenham, which is the largest. It is also the second largest stadium in the world with a fully retractable roof and was the second stadium in Europe to have this feature.
Until 1969, Cardiff RFC and Wales both played their home matches on the same pitch at Cardiff Arms Park, but all this changed in the 1969–70 season. As a result of an agreement between Cardiff Athletic Club and the WRU, the National Stadium project had established that a new stadium for international matches and events was required, with Cardiff RFC moving to a new purpose built stadium on the original cricket ground at the site of the former Cardiff Arms Park stadium. By 7 April 1984 the National Stadium was officially opened. However in 1994, a redevelopment committee was set up to consider redeveloping the National Stadium, and by 1995 the WRU had been chosen to host the 1999 Rugby World Cup.
For the 2012 Summer Olympics, the stadium will also be one of the hosts for the football events hosting at least eight football matches, including a women's football match that is the first event of the Games, even prior to the opening ceremony. Olympic Tickets are being sold for The Olympic Games 2012, London. Global Ticket Market is selling all Olympic Tickets including Olympic Football Tickets at very cheap rates. You can purchase Olympic Football Tickets from Global Ticket Market in a secure way, very easily and at lesser rates.
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