Alexander Stadium
Birmingham, West Midlands, England
Alexander Stadium, Birmingham, England — opened Groundbreaking 1975, stadium opened 1976, 34 rugby league games hosted, home of Midlands Hurricanes (League 1, third tier), tenants from the 2023 season, playing on the adjacent community pitch rather than inside the main athletics bowl.
Sourcing caveat: Floodlights not explicitly confirmed for the venue. The Midlands Hurricanes' exact tenancy end date (some sources suggest 2023-2025) is not fully confirmed.
Ground facts
| Opened | Groundbreaking 1975, stadium opened 1976 (This is fundamentally an athletics venue, not a rugby league ground — host of the 2022 Commonwealth Games athletics and ceremonies, and set to host the 2026 European Athletics Championships. Its rugby league use is a recent (2023+) secondary tenancy by a lower-tier club on an adjacent community pitch, not the main arena, plus one high-profile one-off final. Rugby league matches use the separate community pitch, so the main stadium's 18,000/40,000 capacity figures are NOT the effective rugby league match-day capacity.) |
| Home club | Midlands Hurricanes (League 1, third tier), tenants from the 2023 season, playing on the adjacent community pitch rather than inside the main athletics bowl |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 34 |
| Top recorded crowd | 985 |
| Capacity | 18,000 permanent seats in the main stadium, expandable to 40,000 for major events (post-2022 redevelopment) — not the rugby league match-day capacity, which uses the separate community pitch |
| Challenge Cup Finals hosted | 1 |
| Surface | The main arena has a 9-lane World Athletics Category 1 certified track plus a warm-up track and throws field; rugby league is played on the separate adjoining community pitch |
| First rugby league match | Midlands Hurricanes v Cornwall, 19 Feb 2023 (League 1) — the club's first match at the venue |
| Years used | 2023–2025 |
| Location | Birmingham, West Midlands |
Name history
- Alexander Stadium — since 1976, no name change found, though major redevelopments occurred in 2009, 2011, and 2020-2022 (the latter, a £72m project ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, expanded capacity to 18,000/40,000)
Rugby league history
A major national/international athletics venue whose rugby league use is recent and secondary: Midlands Hurricanes have played on an adjacent community pitch since 2023, and the venue hosted the first-ever Women's National Championship Final in 2024. No Test match or men's Challenge Cup fixture at Alexander Stadium was found in any source.
Primarily a major national athletics venue (2022 Commonwealth Games, 2026 European Athletics Championships).
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 29 Sep 2024 — the first-ever Women's National Championship Final, Leigh Leopards v London Broncos, for the right to compete for promotion to the Betfred Women's Super League (free admission, streamed on the RFL YouTube channel)
Pre-dates the site's structured match-by-match records for these competitions, so listed here as sourced facts rather than linked match pages.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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