Melbourne Rectangular Stadium

What sets this ground apart is its shape. It opened on 7 May 2010 with an Anzac Test between Australia and New Zealand. FIFA competitions know it instead as Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.

It carries four codes on one calendar. Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City share it in the A-League, Melbourne Storm play their NRL fixtures on it, and until 2024 Melbourne Rebels used it for Super Rugby — a rotation few rectangular grounds anywhere manage without the pitch giving out. Western United called it home from 2020 until their own stadium opened in 2024, and still return for occasional matches.

Ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, the state government put over AU$25 million into it: the entire playing surface was relaid with turf grown on a dedicated farm for the best part of a year, two enormous curved video screens went up — the first of their kind in the country — and the changing rooms were rebuilt with gender-neutral facilities and ice-bath areas. Six matches of that tournament were played here, and when Federation Square dropped its broadcast of the final and the third-place match, this ground picked up the public screenings instead.

Its record crowd has nothing to do with sport: 33,595 people came for an Ed Sheeran show in December 2015, more than watched any football final held here. The stadium also hosted matches at the 2015 Asian Cup, including the tournament opener, and the opening match of the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.