Manchester City head to Australia this summer as part of Gareth Taylor’s side’s preparation for the upcoming 2024/25 season.
Following last season’s second place finish in the Barclays Women’s Super League, we’ll be aiming to push for the title again next term while also competing among Europe’s elite in the Champions League.
To help aid our quest for major honours next term, we’ll play two games at the Perth International Football Cup this August and September – with our first fixture hosted at HBF Park.
Here’s the lowdown on the arena…
HISTORY
Perth Rectangular Stadium, named HBF Park under naming rights, was built in 1910 but has since undergone restorations in 2004, 2012 and 2023.
Located close to Perth’s central business district, the stadium holds a maximum of 20,500 spectators for sporting events which increases to 25,000 for concerts.
When opened in 1910, the ground was oval shaped and played host to East Perth Football Club in the West Australian Football League – then in 2004 – redevelopment took place to alter the layout to a rectangular field.
It is now the home ground for A-League football club Perth Glory and Western Force – a rugby union side who compete in the Super Rugby Pacific competition.
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL
HBF Park has played host to a swathe of international football matches including friendlies and major tournaments.
In recent years, the Australia men’s senior team last played there in June 2024 when beating Palestine 5-0 in 2026 World Cup second round qualifying.
Before then, though, it hosted five matches at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, seeing Denmark beat China and Haiti, Canada best the Republic of Ireland, Panama lose to Jamaica and Morocco win against Colombia.
EVENTS
Not only do sporting events take place at HBF Park, but since 2005, a number of major music concerts have been staged there.
Artists such as Rod Stewart, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Foo Fighters, Ed Sheeran and Harry Styles have performed there.
RECORD ATTENDANCES
The highest attended event in the stadium’s history is 32,000 for an Ed Sheeran concert in December 2015 – surpassing the previous record of 31,997 at a Foo Fighters gig in 2015.
For a football match – the record crowd currently stands at 19,495 for a 2018 World Cup qualifier between Australia and Bangladesh.
FIXTURES
City kick-off our Perth International Football Cup campaign against Leicester at on Wednesday 28 August at 11:15 (UK) at HBF Park.
Meanwhile, the other two sides in the tournament, West Ham and Paris Saint-Germain, will lock horns at the same arena on Thursday 29 August.
