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Twickenham Stadium is to be rebranded as Allianz Stadium in a wide-ranging agreement between the home of English rugby and the German insurance provider.
While no financial details were released, the deal is reportedly worth around £100m over 10 years. It comes ahead of a planned major redevelopment of the 82,000-capacity venue, which would include a fully reprofiled lower tier.
The deal will see Allianz and the Rugby Football Union (RFU) offer support to the grassroots game through financial investment designed to secure funding for the community game.
Twickenham – the home of the England national team since 1910 – will become the latest Allianz Stadium from September. The stadium sponsorship is the eighth of its kind for Allianz, with other venues including Allianz Arena in Munich, Allianz Parque in São Paulo and the recently reopened venue in Sydney.
The new name will be in use ahead of this season’s Autumn Internationals and ahead of the 2025 Rugby World Cup in England.
RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said: “We’re really pleased to be expanding our partnership with Allianz, enabling further investment into the community and professional game. This is an opportunity to celebrate our stadium’s proud legacy while developing it for the future. This partnership will support us in moving the game in a direction which serves all rugby, from minis to the elites, from club coaches to our national coaches and everything in between.
“Over the coming years the RFU and Allianz will work together to enhance visitor experiences and provide fans and local community with the best possible match day and event experiences.
“As we head towards hosting the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2025 it is entirely fitting that the first game to be played at the newly named Allianz Stadium will be the Red Roses versus New Zealand on 14 September.”
Venue ready by 2031
Earlier this year the RFU decided to pursue a major redevelopment of Twickenham after it emerged that the governing body opted against approaching the Football Association (FA) about sharing Wembley.
Work on the stadium would begin after the 2027 Six Nations and it is hoped the new-look venue would be ready by 2031. The capacity of the stadium would be reduced from 82,500 to a minimum of 80,000.
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