Stade de la Méditerranée – stadium description

The stadium located in charming Town of Béziers on the southern coast of France isn’t particularly known among football fans, though it hosted a world cup. That would be because it was a rugby tournament as this discipline was the one it was built for back in 1989. The name derives from the Mediterranean Games that were the ground’s first major event. Today the major tenant of the venue is rugby side ASBH, but a smaller AS Béziers plays football here as well.

Attendance record was first broken in 2002 when Munster faced Castres. Their clash was watched by 20,300 people. The only occasion that saw a bigger crowd was Johhny Hallyday concert in 2009, but that event included the pitch, thus the total number of 30,000 participants.

The shell-shaped or rugby ball-shaped (depending on judgment) stadium went through one major revamp. In 2005 capacity went down from app. 20,000 to 18,555 after skyboxes were installed. A year later open air platform was set by a brewery to allow 280 people to watch the game while having a drink.