Twickenham Stadium is a rugby union stadium in Twickenham, south west London, England. Owned by the governing body of rugby union in England, the Rugby Football Union (the RFU), the stadium hosts home test matches for the England national rugby union team. Other rugby union games played at the stadium include the Middlesex Sevens, selected Premiership Rugby fixtures, selected Anglo-Welsh Cup matches, the Varsity Match between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and selected European Rugby Champions Cup matches. The RFU headquarters are in the stadium.
Twickenham Stadium has also hosted concerts by Rihanna, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Genesis, U2, Beyoncé, The Rolling Stones, The Police, Eagles, R.E.M., Eminem, and Lady Gaga, rugby league‘s Challenge Cup Finals, and conventions of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and it has hosted American football as part of the NFL London Games in 2016 and 2017.
Twickenham Stadium is the largest stadium in the world dedicated to the sport of rugby union, the second largest stadium in the United Kingdom behind Wembley Stadium and the fourth largest stadium in Europe.
Twickenham is often referred to as the home of rugby union. The stadium, owned and operated by the RFU, hosts rugby union fixtures year round. It is the home of the English rugby union team, who play nearly all their home games at the stadium. Twickenham hosts England’s home Six Nations matches, as well as inbound touring teams from the Southern Hemisphere, usually annually around November.
Apart from its relationship with the national team, Twickenham is the venue for a number of other domestic and international rugby union matches. It hosts the annual London leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Cup (championship) final and third-place match of the annual London leg of the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series, and the domestic Middlesex Sevens competition. It is also the venue for the Premiership Rugby final as well as the season-opening London Double Header, Big Game and an annual fixture hosted by Bath Rugby. Anglo-Welsh Cup, Heineken Cup and Champions Cup finals have also been held here in the past. The stadium is also host to The Varsity Match between Oxford and Cambridge, the English schools’ Daily Mail Cup Final and the Army Navy Match which forms the culmination of the annual Inter-Services Competition.
