<\/p>\n

Key facts<\/h3>\n

Club: none | Opening: 1998 | Capacity: 80,000 seats<\/p>\n

History and description<\/h3>\n

Stade de France is the largest stadium in France and the stadium where the French national team plays its most important home matches.<\/p>\n

Stade de France got built to serve as the centrepiece of the 1998 World Cup<\/a>. At that time no stadium in France had a capacity of over 45,000 and the tournament needed a 70,000+ stadium.<\/p>\n

Construction of the stadium began in 1995 and after 31 months, on the 28th of January 1998, it officially opened with a friendly match between the national teams of France and Spain. Zinedine Zidane scored the first and only goal of the match.<\/p>\n

During the 1998 World Cup, Stade de France hosted nine matches, among which the opening match between Brazil and Scotland (2-1), the semi-final between France and Croatia (2-1), and the final between France and Brazil (3-0).<\/p>\n

The stadium has also hosted two Champions League finals<\/a>, the first in 2000 between Real Madrid and Valencia (3-0), and the second in 2006 between Barcelona and Arsenal (2-1).<\/p>\n

In 2016, Stade de France once\u00a0again\u00a0hosted the final of a major tournament when the European Championships<\/a>\u00a0were played in France. On top of the final between Portugal and France (1-), it hosted four first round group matches, one round of 16 match, and the\u00a0quarter final between France and Iceland (5-2).<\/p>\n

In 2015, Stade de France was the site of a terrorist attack when three suicide bombers detonated bomb vests\u00a0outside the stadium during a France vs Germany friendly international. One suicide bomber had tried to enter the stadium, but his suicide vest was discovered during security checks. He then blew himself up, killing one bystander. The other two suicide bombers did not kill any innocents.<\/p>\n

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