<\/p>\n

Key facts<\/h3>\n

Club: none | Opening: 1999 | Capacity: 74,500 seats.<\/p>\n

History and description<\/h3>\n

The Millennium Stadium, officially\u00a0called Principality Stadium, is the national stadium of Wales and the third largest stadium in Britain.<\/p>\n

The stadium was built to host the final at the 1999 Rugby World Cup and replaced Wales\u2019 previous national stadium, the Cardiff Arms Park, which by that time had gotten severely outdated and lacked the facilities to stage such final.<\/p>\n

Construction of the stadium began in 1997 and was completed in 1999 at a total cost of \u00a3114 million. The first match played at the stadium was a rugby friendly between Wales and South Africa. The first football match was a friendly between the Welsh and Finnish national teams in March 2000.<\/p>\n

During the reconstruction of Wembley Stadium<\/a>, the Millennium Stadium hosted the FA Cup and League Cup finals as well as the FA Community Shield.<\/p>\n

In its first decade, the stadium was the standard playing venue of the Welsh national team, however with declining attendances and smaller modern alternatives available in the Liberty Stadium<\/a> and Cardiff City Stadium<\/a>, the Welsh team has since played most matches at one of these smaller stadiums.<\/p>\n

In 2016, the stadium changed name to Principality Stadium following a naming rights sponsorship deal.<\/p>\n

In 2017, the Millennium Stadium hosted the Champions League final<\/a> between Real Madrid and Juventus (4-1).<\/p>\n

The stadium has a fully retractable roof, which can be opened in 20 minutes and is being held up by four 90-metre high masts.<\/p>\n

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