Stade de Gerland

Stade de Gerland
UEFA
Full name	Stade de Gerland
Location	353, Avenue Jean-Jaurès, 69007 VIIè Arrondissement, Lyon, France
Coordinates	45°43′26″N 4°49′56″E
Built	1914
Opened	1926
Expanded	1960, 1980, 1998
Owner	City of Lyon
Operator	Olympique Lyonnais
Surface	Grass
Construction cost	32.7m € (including renovations)
Architect	Tony Garnier René Gagis (renovation)
Capacity	40,500
Field dimensions	105 x 68 m
Tenants
Olympique Lyonnais (Ligue 1 de Orange) 1950–

The Stade de Gerland (otherwise known as Municipal de Gerland or Stade Gerland ; French pronunciation: ​[stad.ʒɛʁ'lɑ̃]) is a stadium, in the city of Lyon, France and home to Ligue 1 football club Olympique Lyonnais. It has a seating capacity of 40,500 people.

Situated in the Gerland quarter, it is used by French professional football club Olympique Lyonnais, but OL is planning to move to a new stadium in 2013.

The Stade de Gerland is listed as a Category three stadium by UEFA's standards and has hosted matches for the 1972 Rugby League World Cup, UEFA Euro 1984, the 1998 FIFA World Cup, and the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

The stadium has hosted concerts by many famous artists, including The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Genesis.

History

In 1910, the mayor of Lyon, Édouard Herriot, came up with the idea to develop and build a sports stadium with an athletics track and a velodrome in the city. In 1912, the stadium was officially mandated and local architect Tony Garnier was given the reins to designing and constructing it. Construction began in 1914 with hopes that the stadium would be completed before the International Exhibition of 1914. However, due to World War I, construction was temporarily halted, but resumed following the wars conclusion in 1919 with the assistance of a large number of German POWs. By 1920, the stadium was completely functional. In 1926, the Stade de Gerland was inaugurated by Herriot.

View of the stadium

The stadium originally had a cycling track, but it was removed in order to increase the seating capacity to 50,000. In 1984, minor renovations were made to the stadium by architect Rene Gagis in order to bring the stadium up to standards for UEFA Euro 1984. This included construction of the Jean Bouin and Jean Jaurès stands. Further renovations were needed to prepare the stadium for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, as by that time FIFA had mandated that all stadiums used for international matches, including the World Cup, had to be all-seated. The north and south stands were completely dismantled and rebuilt, the Jean Jaurès and Jean Bouin side stands were untouched and the athletics track that had remained, even after the cycling track had been removed, was taken out. The renovations were done by architect Albert Constantin. The new incarnation of Gerland had a maximum capacity of 40,500.

Jean Jaurès entrance.

Since 1950 the stadium has been home to French professional football club Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais who play in Ligue 1, France's highest football division. Lyon moved into the stadium as a result of splitting from the Lyon Olympique Universitaire sport club, which played at the Stade des Iris. The record attendance for a Ligue 1 match is 48,552 for a derby match between Olympique Lyonnais and AS Saint-Étienne in 1982.

During the 2003 Confederations Cup semi-final at the stadium between Cameroon and Colombia, Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foé collapsed on the pitch and died shortly afterwards in hospital.^{[citation needed]}

Artists

Gerland is also used for events of mass such as The Rolling Stones's concerts, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, Johnny Hallyday, Genesis.

1998 FIFA World Cup

During the 1998 World Cup, the stadium hosted five group matches:

• South Korea v. Mexico
• Japan v. Jamaica
• United States v. Iran
• France v. Denmark
• Romania v. Colombia

plus the quarter-final fixture between:

• Germany v. Croatia

2007 Rugby World Cup

The stadium hosted three pool matches in the 2007 Rugby World Cup: Australia vs Japan, Argentina vs Georgia and New Zealand vs Portugal.

External links

Preceded by De Kuip Rotterdam

European Cup Winners Cup Final Venue 1986

Succeeded by Spiros Louis Stadium Athens