City of Manchester Stadium
Overview
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England – also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship purposes– is the home ground of . Also referred to by its acronym CoMS,
the site name Eastlands,
and sometimes by its location SportCity, it is the fifth-largest stadium in the Premier League and the twelfth-largest in the United Kingdom, with a seating capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
of 47,805
and a reduced capacity of 45,500 for UEFA
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations , almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA is the administrative and controlling body for European association football, futsal and beach soccer....
-licensed football matches owing to UEFA sponsorship requirements.
The SportCity location but with a larger stadium, was proposed for the main athletics arena in Manchester's failed bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
.
In the successful bid for the 2002 Commonwealth Games
2002 Commonwealth Games
The 2002 Commonwealth Games were held in Manchester, England from 25 July to 4 August 2002. The XVII Commonwealth Games was the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in the UK, eclipsing London's 1948 Summer Olympics in numbers of teams and athletes participating.After the 1996 Manchester...
the capacity of the post-games converted stadium was reduced from 80,000 to about 50,000.
