Stade Chaban-Delmas
Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France
Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux, France — opened 4 June 1938, 9 rugby league games hosted, home of Bordeaux XIII (rugby league tenant, 1944 to the late 1970s); today the stadium's tenant is Union Bordeaux Bègles (rugby union), since 2011.
Sourcing caveat: French Wikipedia's own stadium article separately states a 1954 World Cup Great Britain v New Zealand match drew 15,000 spectators here, but this does not appear in Rugby League Project's more detailed 9-match ledger for the venue, and shares its calendar date (11 November) with the confirmed 1961 France v New Zealand fixture in a different year — this looks like a probable date/venue conflation rather than a genuine 10th match, so it is not listed above as confirmed.
Ground facts
| Opened | 4 June 1938 (Opened as Parc Lescure on this date with a 1938 FIFA World Cup football match (Brazil v Czechoslovakia); an earlier, unrelated ground on the same general site had existed from the 1920s but is not the same stadium.) |
| Home club | Bordeaux XIII (rugby league tenant, 1944 to the late 1970s); today the stadium's tenant is Union Bordeaux Bègles (rugby union), since 2011 |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 9 |
| Top recorded crowd | 25,000 |
| Capacity | 33,290 currently; 25,000 at the 1938 opening, expanded to 40,000 in a 1986 renovation |
| Test matches hosted | 8 |
| Challenge Cup Finals hosted | 1 |
| Floodlights installed | yes (1,609 lux) |
| Surface | natural grass |
| First rugby league match | not fully resolved — Rugby League Project's earliest listed match is 9 January 1938 (South West France 11-12 Australia), which actually predates the stadium's official football inauguration that June; a rugby league history site instead credits Bordeaux XIII's own first match there to October 1938 |
| Years used | 1938–1975 |
| Location | Bordeaux, Aquitaine |
Name history
- Parc Lescure — 1938–2001 (also called the Stade vélodrome municipal de Lescure)
- Stade Chaban-Delmas — since 2001, renamed in tribute to Jacques Chaban-Delmas, mayor of Bordeaux 1947-1995
Rugby league history
Now overwhelmingly known as a football and rugby union ground, Stade Chaban-Delmas was a genuine battleground in what French rugby league histories call "la guerre des terrains" (the war of the grounds, 1934-1939) — the struggle between the breakaway rugby league code and the rugby union establishment for access to France's premier stadiums. Securing the venue for France's 1939 win over Wales, the code's first-ever tournament title, was considered a landmark moment for the young French game. Rugby league use continued after the Second World War through the 1950s, 60s and into the 70s — hosting France against New Zealand, Great Britain and Australia — before fading out entirely after 1975, matching the sport's broader decline in top-flight French venues. Modern club and tourism sources for the stadium (Union Bordeaux Bègles, the city of Bordeaux) make no mention of its rugby league history at all; it survives only in specialist rugby league sources.
Primarily known today for football and rugby union: hosted 1938 and (as Parc Lescure/Stade Chaban-Delmas) later World Cup football matches, the 1998 Heineken Cup final, and 1999/2007 Rugby World Cup fixtures; current tenant is Union Bordeaux Bègles.
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 1938-39 French Championship Final — Roanne 9-0 Villeneuve, attendance approximately 19,800
- 16 Apr 1939 — France 16-10 Wales, European Championship (25,000, our recorded top crowd; France's first-ever tournament win)
- 30 Dec 1951 — France 17-7 New Zealand (11,110)
- 6 Apr 1952 — France 20-12 Wales, European Championship (15,678)
- France 10-21 Great Britain (5,127; exact date not confirmed in sources found)
- 11 Nov 1961 — France 6-6 New Zealand (2,375)
- 24 Nov 1971 — Bordeaux Selection 9-20 New Zealand, Kiwis tour
- 12 Dec 1973 — France 12-24 Australia, Kangaroos tour (2,523)
- 11 Oct 1975 — France 2-48 England, World Championship (1,581)
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.
← Rugby League · Champions list · All-time records · Grand Final results · World Cup · All competitions · Teams · Players