Real Madrid will travel to the arena that currently bears a commercial name as its official title. The match is set to occur at the Etihad Stadium on a Wednesday when Real Madrid visits Manchester City to contest the second leg of the 2022-23 Champions League semifinal. The naming of the stadium has a commercial origin, reflecting a long-standing partnership with a major sponsor rather than a geographic or historical identifier alone.
The venue’s name has evolved over the years. It has not always been called Etihad Stadium. In its early years, the ground began as a founding centerpiece for Manchester’s bid to host major events, and it bore a different identity when it first opened. After the historic Maine Road stadium was abandoned in 2003 and subsequently demolished in 2004, City began to use this new home as a tenant rather than as a property owner. The city council of Manchester retains ownership and has leased the stadium to Manchester City Football Club for a duration extending far into the future, ensuring a stable home for the club within the city’s sports landscape.
Why is Manchester City’s stadium called ‘Etihad Stadium’ and what does it mean?
Plans for the stadium’s construction were laid in the early 1990s as part of a broader effort to upgrade Manchester’s sporting infrastructure. Although Manchester’s bid for the 2000 Olympic Games did not come to fruition, the project endured and eventually progressed. The facility opened under a different name, City of Manchester Stadium, and was initially used for athletics before being repurposed for football. The city funded the conversion, and the stadium was leased to the club as a long-term home for Manchester City.
In 2011, after negotiations over lease terms and naming rights, the club adopted the stadium’s current sponsor-driven name: Etihad Stadium. This shift marked a new chapter in the stadium’s identity, aligning it with Etihad Airways and inaugurating a broader sports city concept known as the Etihad Campus, located in East Manchester. The campus integrates recreational areas and facilities, expanding the stadium’s role beyond a single venue to a hub of community and sporting activity.
The agreement with Etihad Airways came into existence in 2011
Manchester City announced the partnership with Etihad Airways in mid-2011, a collaboration that included the rebranding of the venue as Etihad Stadium. The deal also established the Etihad Campus, a sports complex that extends into surrounding districts and provides a range of facilities for athletes, fans, and residents. This partnership did not merely change the name; it signified a broader effort to integrate football with community development and regional growth. The arrangement, originally set for a decade, has seen renewals and extensions that reflect a long-term commitment between the club and its sponsor.
Public reporting over the years has highlighted the financial scale of the sponsorship, with figures quoted in the hundreds of millions of pounds, underscoring the significance of naming rights and the associated promotional activities. The sponsorship has become one of the most prominent examples of how a city’s football club can partner with a corporate sponsor to fund facility improvements, player development, and broader community initiatives. While the specifics can vary in different reports, the core message remains clear: Etihad Airways’ sponsorship helped transform Manchester City’s home into a modern, multi-use campus that serves both elite sport and local engagement.
In the broader context of European football, the Aberdeen-style approach to naming rights and renewals has become common as clubs seek stable revenue streams to support competitive ambitions. The Etihad partnership is often cited in discussions of strategic sponsorship as a case study in aligning corporate branding with community-centric infrastructure projects. The stadium and the Etihad Campus together form a centerpiece of Manchester City’s architectural and commercial strategy, reinforcing the club’s status as a modern, globally recognized football institution while maintaining deep ties to the local community.