City Of Manchester Stadium
Oldham, Greater Manchester, England
City Of Manchester Stadium, Oldham, England — opened Opened 2003 as Manchester City F.C.'s football stadium (built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games); rugby league use recorded here 2004-2014, 22 rugby league games hosted, home of Not a rugby league home ground — primarily Manchester City F.C.'s football stadium; hosted a Great Britain v Australia Test and three consecutive years of Super League's 'Magic Weekend'.
Sourcing caveat: This site's own venue directory locates this venue in Oldham, which could not be confirmed and is very likely a data error; the write-up above instead uses the well-corroborated identification as Manchester City F.C.'s stadium (City of Manchester Stadium/Etihad Stadium), based on matching match counts, dates and the recorded top-crowd figure. Direct verification against rugbyleagueproject.org's own venue page was attempted but the page did not resolve to venue-specific content.
Ground facts
| Opened | Opened 2003 as Manchester City F.C.'s football stadium (built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games); rugby league use recorded here 2004-2014 (This site's own directory lists this venue's town as 'Oldham,' but the venue is almost certainly Manchester City F.C.'s stadium in the City of Manchester (Sportcity/Eastlands) — a different Greater Manchester borough entirely, roughly 6 miles from Oldham. No rugby league ground or event of this name has ever existed in or near Oldham, and this site's own recorded top crowd for the venue (38,572) far exceeds the capacity of any Oldham ground; the 22-match, 2004-2014 figure also matches exactly to a 2004 Test plus three years of Magic Weekend at this stadium (7+7+7+1=22). The 'Oldham' location field is treated here as a probable data error in the underlying source, not as fact.) |
| Home club | Not a rugby league home ground — primarily Manchester City F.C.'s football stadium; hosted a Great Britain v Australia Test and three consecutive years of Super League's 'Magic Weekend' |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 22 |
| Top recorded crowd | 38,572 |
| Test matches hosted | 1 |
| Years used | 2004–2014 |
| Location | Oldham, Greater Manchester |
Name history
- City of Manchester Stadium — 2003-2011, and in continued informal/media use through around 2015
- Etihad Stadium — current name, from 2011, sponsorship rename
Rugby league history
Hosted Magic Weekend (an entire Super League round played over one weekend at a single neutral stadium) for three consecutive years: 2012 (its first year in England, weekend attendance 63,716), 2013 (62,042) and 2014 (64,552, then the highest-ever aggregate, including a single-day record of 36,339). The event moved to Newcastle for 2015 when redevelopment work began at the stadium after the 2014-15 Premier League football season.
Primarily football (Manchester City F.C., now branded Etihad Stadium); also hosted the 2002 Commonwealth Games athletics.
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 1 Oct 2004 — Great Britain 8-12 Australia, 2004 Tri-Nations, reported attendance near 40,000
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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