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Eastlands' big gig

City of Manchester Stadium Eastlands
Image: City of Manchester Stadium.

The City of Manchester Stadium is set to rock louder than ever when the Uefa Cup final comes to town.

The City of Manchester Stadium may have played host to the likes of George Michael, U2, Oasis and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers but it is set to rock louder than ever when the Uefa Cup final comes to town. In sporting terms, Wednesday's clash between Rangers and Zenit St Petersburg is undoubtedly the venue's biggest moment since the 2002 Commonwealth Games - the event for which it was initially constructed. A stadium on the eastern edge of the city centre was originally conceived as part of the ultimately unsuccessful bid to bring the 2000 Olympic Games, which were awarded to Sydney, to Manchester. A scaled-down version of the 80,000-capacity stadium which was first proposed was given the green light when the Commonwealth Games were handed to the city and construction began just after the turn of the millennium. Queen Elizabeth led the opening ceremony for the Games and the Arup Associates-designed arena instantly won rave reviews for the quality of atmosphere it generated throughout 10-day showpiece. At the conclusion of the Games, the temporary North Stand was dismantled to be replaced by a permanent structure, the pitch level lowered and an extra tier of seating added to raise the capacity from 38,000 to 47,726 in preparation for Manchester City's tenancy which began a year later.

Competitive

Barcelona provided the friendly opposition for City's first game at their new home on August 10, 2003, while in stark contrast Welsh minnows TNS were the inaugural competitive opponents in a Uefa Cup match four days later. Later that month, Portsmouth were the visitors in the first Premier League game staged at the stadium, which is also widely referred to as Eastlands - the name of the brownfield site on which it is constructed. Since then it has hosted two England internationals - against Japan and Iceland in June 2004 - the opening game of the 2005 Women's European Championship and an Ashes clash in rugby league. With a capacity of under 50,000, the stadium is too small to be awarded Uefa's five-star rating, meaning it is ineligible to stage the Champions League final. It was awarded the next greatest honour in October 2006, however, when European football's governing body announced the 2008 UEFA Cup Final would be played at the ground.

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