The pitch on which Manchester City play is owned by the council and was built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Since the historic Maine Road stadium was abandoned in 2003 (and demolished in 2004), Manchester City no longer has a home of its own and has become a tenant: the Etihad Stadium, where the team has played at home since the 2003/03 season. 04, is owned by Manchester City Council, who have leased it to the club for 250 years. In that scenario, Real Madrid will play next Wednesday for the return of the semi-finals of the 2022-23 Champions League.
Plans for the building were drawn up in the early 1990s for the British city’s bid for the 2000 Olympic Games, but after the venue was awarded to Athens, its construction (in a smaller size than originally envisaged) was ultimately delayed until 2002 when Manchester was chosen to host the 17th edition of the Commonwealth Games: originally inaugurated as the City of Manchester Stadium.
After that event, during which it was used for the athletics competitions, the stadium was converted into a football field, paid for by the city and the city, who agreed to the lease. In 2011, after renegotiating the lease terms, the club changed its name to main sponsor.
SKILL
When it was inaugurated, the stadium could hold 38 thousand people. After the closure of the athletics track, the capacity increased to 48,000. And in 2015, a new reform was introduced, which led Etihad the current capacity of 55,097 spectatorsthe fourth largest in the Premier League.
COST
The construction work cost the city £112 million (about $157 million). The conversion to turn it into a football stadium, meanwhile, required an investment of 42 million pounds (60 million dollars).
PLACE
The Etihad Stadium is located in Bradford, an area commonly known as Eastlands, 1.5 miles from Manchester city centre.
Source: Goal