Stade Michel d’Ornano – stadium description

Decision to build a new stadium in Caen was made back in 1988 as Stade de Venoix was already obsolete. Then location had to be chosen, final capacity, then design competition was held and so construction wasn’t ready to commence until March 1991.Just a week before groundbreaking Michel d’Ornano passed away, a recognized politician and entrepreneur. His name was soon chosen for the new venue.

Construction ended in May 1993, having consumed a large amount of money for that time – FRF 194 million. Significant especially when compared to initial estimates of a 54-million budget. Initially capacity was almost 24,000 thanks to standing places, but after the Furiani tragedy all terraces were banned and so the size decreased to around 21,000.

As this is a municipal venue, it wasn’t used only by Stade Malherbe Caen, but on various occasions also by US Quevilly and incidentally also other clubs. France national teams have also staged several fixtures here (both regular and U19 sides) and in 1998 England were training here ahead of the World Cup.