Stadio Euganeo
Padua, Veneto, Italy
Stadio Euganeo, Padua, Italy — opened Not the current Stadio Euganeo, which opened 19 June 1994, 34 years after the recorded 1960 match. The Wikipedia article "Rugby league in Italy", matching the 3,500 attendance exactly, names the true venue as Stadio Appiani, opened in 1924., 1 rugby league games hosted, home of Calcio Padova (Stadio Appiani was the Padova club home ground until superseded by Stadio Euganeo in 1994; Appiani has served only as a training ground since 2015).
Sourcing caveat: This entry is filed under Rugby League Project's venue name (Stadio Euganeo) to match the site's data, but the true 1960 venue was very likely Stadio Appiani, a separate, older ground; Stadio Euganeo itself was not built until 1994 and was independently confirmed via direct source re-check to be unrelated to this match.
Ground facts
| Opened | Not the current Stadio Euganeo, which opened 19 June 1994, 34 years after the recorded 1960 match. The Wikipedia article "Rugby league in Italy", matching the 3,500 attendance exactly, names the true venue as Stadio Appiani, opened in 1924. (This is a confirmed naming discrepancy between two Wikipedia articles: 'Rugby league in Italy' names the venue as Stadio Appiani and gives the same attendance figure as Rugby League Project (3,500); 'List of Italy national rugby league team results' and the Stadio Euganeo article itself instead carry the modern 'Stadio Euganeo' name back onto the 1960 fixture, despite that stadium not being built until 1994. Given the exact attendance match, Stadio Appiani is treated here as the true venue.) |
| Home club | Calcio Padova (Stadio Appiani was the Padova club home ground until superseded by Stadio Euganeo in 1994; Appiani has served only as a training ground since 2015) |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 1 |
| Top recorded crowd | 3,500 |
| Capacity | Stadio Appiani originally held around 24,000; its current, much-reduced training-only capacity is around 1,400. (The unrelated current Stadio Euganeo holds 32,420, reducible to 18,060 for football.) |
| Floodlights installed | Not confirmed for Stadio Appiani in the sources checked |
| Surface | Not confirmed for Stadio Appiani in the sources checked; documented only as an athletics/football ground |
| Years used | 1960 |
| Location | Padua, Veneto |
Name history
- Stadio Appiani (Stadio Silvio Appiani) — opened 1924; the true 1960 match venue, per the Wikipedia article Rugby league in Italy
- Stadio Euganeo — 1994-present, a different, later stadium mistakenly credited with the 1960 match by some sources
Rugby league history
The first rugby league international played in Italy took place on 23 January 1960: touring Australia beat Italy 37-15 in front of 3,500 fans, with Australia returning the next day to beat Italy 67-22 at Treviso. Rugby League Project and some Wikipedia pages label the Padua venue 'Stadio Euganeo', but that stadium was not built until 1994; Wikipedia's own dedicated 'Rugby league in Italy' article instead names the venue as Stadio Appiani and matches the attendance figure exactly, making Appiani the far more credible historic venue. This was among the earliest rugby league international fixtures played in Italy.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
← Rugby League · Champions list · All-time records · Grand Final results · World Cup · All competitions · Teams · Players