About the Stadium

The Louis II Stadium was built in the Fontvieille district. This new district covers 22 hectares of reclaimed land, created thanks to the determination of Prince Rainier III, who wanted to expand the territory of the Principality. The major works involved in creating this embankment were carried out between 1965 and 1971.

If we can say that the Rock ("le Rocher") is the heart of the Principality, Fontvieille is certainly its lungs. This neighbourhood offers a condensed version of everything that makes a city dynamic, namely:

• residential areas,
• sports facilities (Stade Louis II), cultural venues (Espace Fontvieille, Espace Léo Ferré) and commercial areas (Fontvieille Shopping Centre),
• restaurants,
• a school,
• economic development zones (secondary and tertiary sectors),
• green spaces,
• a marina.

With regard to the Louis II Stadium in particular, Prince Rainier III had expressed the wish that:

• perfectly integrated into the neighbourhood from an architectural point of view,
• rational, in order to make optimal use of all the space (commercial and administrative offices, restaurant, sports halls, car parks),
• at the cutting edge of the latest technologies and/or trends (a pioneer in many areas, such as video surveillance, the installation of press desks in the stands, etc.),
• multi-sport, to expand the range of sports on offer,
• to international standards, to be able to host the biggest events,
• accessible, to enable the population to participate regardless of their sporting ability.

Key dates in the construction of the Stadium

• 1979: Prince Rainier III decides to build a new sports complex on the Fontvieille esplanade to replace the old Louis II Stadium.
• 1980: Final general programme approved.
• 1981: Foundation work begins.
• 1982: Structural work.
• 1983: Delivery of two levels of parking.
• 1984: Technical acceptance and finishing work.

The Louis II Stadium was inaugurated on 25 January 1985 by Prince Rainier III, in the presence of Mr Juan Antonio Samaranch, President of the International Olympic Committee.

The Building

The Stadium includes:

• A sports complex with:
  • specialised sports facilities
  • a sports medical centre
  • the ASM FC training centre, which had 20 rooms for ASM FC trainees, classrooms and a cafeteria. The training centre moved to new premises on the Diagonale in 2021.

It is the headquarters of around forty sports associations, including the Monegasque Olympic Committee.

• A complex of commercial and administrative premises comprising:
  • administrative services
  • a petrol station

• A four-level car park.

Some figures

• Cost: 594 million francs
• Land area: 3 hectares, or 30,000 m², representing 14% of the surface area of the Fontvieille embankment.
• Surface: 145,000 m² for the Stadium
• Dimensions : 210 metres long, 160 metres wide, 39 metres high
• Concrete: 120,000 m³
• Steel: 9,000 tonnes
• Structures: 2,000 tonnes
• Number of parking spaces: 1,260 (down from 1,800 originally, subsequently reduced to create storage space)
• Number of doors: 2,100
• 13,900 m² of office and commercial space
• Number of employees: 56
• Building designed to withstand an earthquake measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale

Capacity of sports facilities:

• Multi-purpose stadium: 17,715 seats
• Multi-purpose hall: up to 3,700 seats
• Aquatic centre: 500 seats
• School gymnasium: up to 172 seats

Stadium life

In addition to hosting competitions of particular or even exceptional importance, the stadium's mission is to make sport accessible to as many people as possible and to be open to the general public. The stadium is aimed at:

• To students at schools in the Principality: approximately 2,000 schoolchildren per week
• To sports associations that have access to specific training facilities: more than 3,000 participants per week (amateurs and high-level athletes)
• The general public, who can access the Nautical Centre, the weight room and the squash courts at certain times
• Numerous visitors:
  • 2022: 3,234 visitors (July and August only)
  • 2023: 5,515 visitors

Sports activities

More than thirty sporting activities are practised regularly at the Stade Louis II, including:

• Multi-purpose stadium: Athletics (running, jumping, throwing), football, rugby
• Multi-purpose hall ‘Salle Gaston Médecin’: Basketball, judo
• Albert II Aquatic Centre: Competitive swimming, synchronised swimming, diving, water polo, diving, freediving, lifesaving
• School Gymnasium: basketball, handball, volleyball, badminton
• Dojo ‘Docteur Orecchia’: Judo and Ju Jitsu, Aikido
• Table Tennis Hall
• Weightlifting Hall ‘Joseph Asso’: weightlifting, bodybuilding
• Martial Arts Hall: taekwondo, karate, yoga
• ‘Manu Conte’ boxing hall: boxing, Krav Maga, Muay Thai, Krav Maga
• Gymnastics hall: gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, acrobatic gymnastics, trampoline
• ‘Fernand Prat’ fencing hall: fencing, Tai Chi
• Squash (4 courts)
• Weight training hall

The management and staff of the Stadium

Under the supervision of the Department of Education, Youth and Sports, the stadium has an administrative team of 13 people and a technical staff divided into several specialised teams of 69 people.

The Stadium management team consists of the following staff:

• 1 Director
• 1 Technical Manager
• 1 Section Manager
• 2 Administrators
• 1 Senior Attaché
• 2 Accounting Secretaries
• 1 Assistant
• 1 Site manager
• 1 Technical Assistant
• 1 Head of Security
• 1 Stock Manager
• In addition to this administrative team, there are 56 technical and sports staff.

In 2013, the Stadium team was entrusted with the task of managing a second building, located 50 metres away but on French territory: the Espace Saint Antoine.

In terms of staff, the Louis II Stadium and the Espace Saint Antoine have a total of 68 people who are responsible for both buildings.