Unlike its predecessor, which was solely owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), the current stadium is controlled by the IRFU and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) through a 50:50 joint venture known as the Lansdowne Road Stadium Development Company (LRSDC). The joint venture has a 60-year lease on the stadium;[12] on expiry the stadium will return to the exclusive ownership of the IRFU.[13]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Irish Army (operating under Operation Fortitude) used the stadium for testing from 14 May onwards, following the handover from the Naval Service (which had been conducting tests under Operation Fortitude at Sir John Rogerson's Quay until that time).[18]
Row colours: green for club matches, yellow for international ones
*Denotes match in which COVID-19 restrictions limited attendance
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Internationals
The stadium during a match between Ireland and the United States
The Ireland national rugby union team plays its home games at the stadium, as it did previously at Lansdowne Road, taking over from their temporary home, Croke Park, where games were played during Aviva's construction. Ireland's first international game was on 6 November 2010 against South Africa, with the Springboks winning 23–21. The game drew a crowd of 35,515, mainly due to a backlash by Ireland supporters over the IRFU's controversial ticketing strategy for the November Test series.[162] Initially, the IRFU announced that tickets to the November Tests would only be sold as packages for all four matches. Later, it announced that the tickets would instead be split into two packages, with the South Africa Test bundled with the following week's match with Samoa for a minimum of €150, and the New Zealand and Argentina Tests bundled for a minimum of €190. single-game tickets were to be available only for the Samoa and Argentina Tests. On 1 November, the IRFU backed away from this plan amid heavy criticism from member clubs that had problems selling the packages in a difficult economy.[163]
Lansdowne Road was replaced by the Aviva Stadium, shown here during construction
The first rugby union game at the Aviva was an exhibition game on 31 July 2010, billed as the O2 Challenge, involving under-18 and under-20 players from all four of Ireland's provincial sides, with a Leinster/Ulster side defeating a Munster/Connacht combination 68–0.[164] As part of the run-up to the event, O2 ran a promotion which gave the winner the opportunity to attempt to score the ceremonial first points at the Aviva via a simulated conversion kick on the day before the match. The winner of the promotion, John Baker of Ennis, was successful.[165] The first official points at the Aviva were scored by Ulster's Craig Gilroy with a try in the O2 Challenge.[164]
Ireland won twelve consecutive matches at the Aviva between 2016 and 2018.[166] They bested that record achieving their 13th consecutive home win in week two of the 2023 Six Nations.[167] Ireland extended that record to 14 straight wins and achieved their 4th ever Grand Slam in 29–16 victory over England on 18 March 2023.[168] Ireland beat Scotland at the Aviva on 16 March 2024, to become back-to-back Six Nations outright champions for only the third time in history, extending their record of 19 consecutive home wins.[158]
More information Ireland's record at the Aviva, Competition ...
The stadium also hosts some home games for Leinster when the RDS Arena's smaller capacity does not satisfy demand. Leinster won their opening home game in the Aviva against Munster 13–9, in the Celtic League (now United Rugby Championship) season, in front of a then record league attendance of 50,645.[169] This league record was exceeded on 29 March 2014 when Leinster again beat Munster, 22–18, in front of 51,700 people.[54]
The 2013 Heineken Cup Final took place in the stadium on 18 May 2013[175] where Toulon beat Clermont Auvergne 16–15.[176] The Heineken Cup final had last been held in Dublin in 2003, when Toulouse beat Perpignan 22–17 at Lansdowne Road in front of 28,600.[177]
The stadium hosted a second European Champions Cup final in 2023 when La Rochelle beat Leinster 27–26.[178]
More information Leinster's record at the Aviva, Competition ...
The Aviva has annually hosted the FAI Cup Final since 2010. While the Aviva Stadium was under construction the cup final hosting was shared between the RDS Arena and Tallaght Stadium. The first Cup Final at the new stadium was the 2010 FAI Cup Final, held on Sunday 14 November 2010. Sligo Rovers beat Shamrock Rovers 2–0 on penalties after the game finished 0–0 after extra time. A total of 36,101 attended the game making it the biggest attendance at an FAI Cup Final since 1968.[183] A total of 37,126 spectators were in attendance for the 2021 Final in which St Patrick's Athletic defeated Bohemians on penalties.[293] The Aviva hosted 43,881 for the 2023 Final, a record breaking attendance for an FAI Cup final.[308]
The 'Dublin Decider' was a game which took place on 10 August 2013. The match was played between Celtic and Liverpool, with both teams having large support in Ireland. Celtic won the match 1–0 thanks to a goal from Amido Balde.[326]
There were talks ongoing about a return of the 'Dublin Decider' in the summer of 2014 with clubs such as Barcelona, Manchester United and Celtic being mentioned as potential visitors to the Aviva Stadium. It was confirmed in March 2016 that Celtic would face Barcelona in the stadium on 30 July 2016, however, this was as part of the annual International Champions Cup pre-season tournament, and not any sort of independent 'Dublin Decider' fixture. Barcelona won the game 3–1.
Abandoned UEFA Euro 2020 hosting
On 19 September 2014, UEFA announced that the stadium would host four fixtures in the Euro 2020 finals tournament, three of which would be group games and, the fourth, a round of 16 matches. Had Ireland qualified they would have been guaranteed two home group games.[327] As Aviva was not a commercial partner of the Euro 2020 tournament, the stadium would have been referred to as the Dublin Arena throughout. However, the COVID-19 pandemic intervened and UEFA postponed the tournament until 2021 (though UEFA retained the tournament's original name). Restrictions still in force after the pandemic's Third Wave struck the Republic of Ireland, killing thousands in the early part of 2021, meant that Dublin and the Aviva Stadium were unable to fulfil their hosting duties to UEFA's satisfaction and, therefore, the stadium lost its Euro 2020 host rights. The announcement, which came on 23 April 2021, allocated Dublin's three group games to the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and Dublin's originally scheduled last 16 (group D winner vs group F runner up) tie to Wembley Stadium in London, England.[328]
On 16 July 2021, the UEFA Executive Committee announced that due to the withdrawal of hosting rights for Euro 2020, the Aviva Stadium was given hosting rights for the 2024 UEFA Europa League Final. This was part of a settlement agreement by UEFA to recognise the efforts and financial investment made to host UEFA Euro 2020.[329] The stadium would later get hosting rights for UEFA Euro 2028.
2024 Europa League final
Thirteen years after the 2011 final, Aviva Stadium hosted the 2024 Europa League final between Italian side Atalanta and German side Bayer Leverkusen. Due to UEFA rules against corporate sponsorship outside the federation, the stadium was referred to as the "Dublin Arena" for the final.[330] Leverkusen, who was seeking to emulate what Porto did in 2011 having won the Bundesliga and due to play in the DFB-Pokal final, was soundly beaten by Atalanta 3–0, winning the latter's first ever European trophy and breaking Leverkusen's unbeaten streak.[331]
UEFA Euro 2028
In October 2023, UEFA announced the venues for the UEFA Euro 2028. The Aviva Stadium, alongside other venues in the United Kingdom, will host several matches in the tournament.[332]
American football
The stadium in American football configuration for Navy vs. Notre Dame in 2012
The Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Northwestern Wildcats kicked off their 2022 seasons at the Aviva Stadium with Northwestern winning 31–28.[335][336] It was soon confirmed that Notre Dame would once again play Navy in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic at the Aviva Stadium on 26 August 2023.[337] Notre Dame ran out winners with the final score 42–3.[338]
The stadium is a bowl shape with four tiers on three sides of the ground; the lower and upper tiers are for general access, the second and third levels feed the second tier for premium tickets and the third tier for corporate boxes. The northern end of the stadium, due to its proximity to local housing, incorporates only the lower tier of the bowl. This end of the stadium is to be the away stand for football internationals. There is one basement level and seven storeys of floors including ground level. The premium level holds 10,000 spectators, while the box level holds 1,300.[2] The remaining 38,700 seats are shared between the top and bottom tiers. The capacity of the stadium was criticised even before its opening for being too small, particularly in light of the large supporter attendance figures for Irish rugby internationals and football internationals at Croke Park since 2007.[348] The stadium's roof undulates in a wave-like manner so as to avoid blocking light to local residences.[349]
Aviva Stadium Panoramic view
The stadium is served by public transport with Bus and DART. More remotely, it may also be reached, following by the Luas and on foot. The stadium is inaccessible by car on match days due to a 1km car-free exclusion zone in operation.
