Stade des Minimes
Toulouse, Midi-Pyrénées, France
Stade des Minimes, Toulouse, France — opened 1937, 55 rugby league games hosted, home of Toulouse Olympique, 1937 until sometime between 2015 and 2020 (sources vary on the exact departure date — see caveat).
Sourcing caveat: Sources disagree on when Toulouse Olympique's tenancy at Stade des Minimes actually ended: one source states the club left in 2015 when joining the British league system, another describes a move formalized only in 2020-2021. Both are recorded rather than picking one confidently. This site's own venue directory records rugby league matches here as late as 2025, later than either departure date given by outside sources — not reconciled in this pass.
Ground facts
| Opened | 1937 (Also known informally as Stade Arnauné; Toulouse Olympique played their first match there on 24 Oct 1937.) |
| Home club | Toulouse Olympique, 1937 until sometime between 2015 and 2020 (sources vary on the exact departure date — see caveat) |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 55 |
| Top recorded crowd | 25,000 |
| Capacity | approximately 4,066 (2,000 seated) |
| Test matches hosted | 6 |
| Challenge Cup Finals hosted | 1 |
| Surface | Grass |
| Years used | 1957–2025 |
| Location | Toulouse, Midi-Pyrénées |
Name history
- Stade des Minimes — 1937-present (also known as Stade Arnauné)
Rugby league history
A genuinely significant mid-20th-century venue for French rugby league — one of the main Test-match grounds used by the France national team through the 1950s-1970s, and Toulouse Olympique's home from the club's 1937 founding. Also hosted 1999 Mediterranean Cup matches. Toulouse Olympique moved to the much larger Stade Ernest-Wallon (groundsharing with rugby union's Stade Toulousain) as the club rose into the British league system and eventually Super League; a formal groundshare agreement was reached 15 Apr 2021 running to the end of 2029.
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 2005 Challenge Cup Round 4 tie (Toulouse hosted an English club side)
- 1957, 1971 — France v Great Britain
- 1959, 1963, 1977 — France v Wales (1 Mar 1959 fixture drew the ground's highest recorded attendance, 25,000)
- 1963, 1968, 1973, 1978 — France v Australia
- 1965 — France v New Zealand (moved here due to flooding of the Garonne river at the originally planned venue)
- 1970, 1978 — France v England
- 1999 — France v Lebanon
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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