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The Melbourne Cricket Ground, abbreviated as MCG and also simply known as "The G", is a sports stadium located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The ground is located close to the center of Melbourne city, a pleasant 15-minute walk from the main Flinders Street train station.

The stadium, which was opened in 1853, has a current official capacity of 100,024, making it the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the 11th largest stadium in the world and the second largest cricket stadium in the world behind Sardar Patel Stadium in India.

The MCG mainly serves as a host for various international and domestic cricket matches. The highest attendance for a cricket match was recorded at 93,013, for Australia's 2015 World Cup finals match against New Zealand.

The stadium, despite being named with a cricket ground suffix, has been used for playing Australian Rules Football since 1869. The VFL/AFL Grand Final is played in the MCG every year. The highest attendance ever for a sporting event in the stadium was recorded for an Aussie Rules match at 121,696 for the 1970 VFL Grand Final between Carlton and Collingwood, though a crowd of at least 130,000 came to see the American evangelist Billy Graham in 1959.

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In 1991, the MCG underwent significant redevelopments when the Great Southern Stand was rebuilt, and again in 2003-2005 when the Northern Stand replaced the old Ponsford, Members and Olympic Stands.

The stadium is also occasionally used for playing Rugby Union, Rugby League and Association Football games. A large crowd attended a soccer match held in the stadium, the 2015 International Champions Cup between Real Madrid and Manchester City which was attended by a record crowd for a football match at 99,382. The record attendance for a Rugby League match at the stadium is 91,513 for the State of Origin match in 2015, and for rugby union the highest attendance was 90,119 who saw the Bledisloe Cup rugby union game between Australia v New Zealand in 1997.

Some of the Major Events Held at the MCG

Here are just some of the major events that have been held at Melbourne Cricket Ground:

• 1877 - The first-ever cricket Test Match, between England and Australia.
• 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games
• 1971 - the first one-day international cricket match.
• 1992 -  ICC Cricket World Cup Final
• 2006 Commonwealth Games.
• 2015 -  ICC Cricket World Cup Final
• The AFL grand final is played at the MCG each year on the last weekend in September.
• 2022 men's T20 World Cup
• 2026 Commonwealth Games, opening ceremony

Stadium Trivia

• The MCG has just dropped off the list of the top-10 World's Largest Sporting Stadiums. It is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, Oceania, Australia, and the second largest cricket stadium in the world (the biggest is the Narendra Modi Stadium in India).

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Related Pages

• The MCG is listed as one of our 7 Wonders of the Sporting World.
• Should the AFL Grand Final be played away from the MCG?
• Australian Stadiums
• All stadiums list
• Top-10 largest stadiums in the world
• Olympic Games stadiums