Stade Michel d’Ornano

Stade Michel d’Ornano is a multi-purpose sports venue located in the north-western commune of Caen within Lower Normandy. Built in 1993 to replace the outdated Stade de Venoix, the 21,500 capacity ground is primarily used for the home matches of local football team Stade Malherbe Caen.

Stadium Guide

History

Stade Michel d’Ornano first opened in the June 1993 in time for the start of the oncoming football season in August. Replacing their former home of Stade de Venoix which first opened in 1925 and by now was coming to the end of its shelf-life, the new stadium essentially doubled the old ground’s 11,500 capacity.

Construction began in March 1991 and took just over 27 months in total to complete with some stands built with terrace places. Proving unpopular for one reason or another they were removed a year later in 1994, and replaced with seating in line with other stadiums across continental Europe, excluding Germany of course.

SM Caen’s ground is named after Michel d’Ornano who was a popular French politician from the local area. Holding numerous cabinet positions between 1974 and 1981, he initially made his reputation in serving as president of the local council for the Basse-Normandie region were Caen are based. He sadly died in 1991 before the stadium was completed.

Although not used to host matches of the 1998 Fifa World Cup, The England National Team used Stade Michel d’Ornano as one of their training bases, and they even played a friendly match against home side Stade Malherbe Caen in preparation. Although not quite Wembley, in typical English fashion, the team managed to under-perform with a narrow 1 nil victory.

The record attendance to date was set in 2004 when 20,972 supporters crammed into the stadium to see Caen take on Olympique de Marseille. Although theoretically it’s possible that this could be beaten, the fact that it hasn’t been bettered in the last 10 years perhaps suggests that it never will – save for a very special occasion.

Seating Plan

Below is a seating plan of Caen's Stade Michel d’Ornano:

Stands

Michel d’Ornano is comprised of four sections: Nord, Est, Sud and Ouest.

Click the thumbnails above to enlarge an image of each stand and to read a more detailed description of each part of the stadium.

The Matchday Experience

Away fans

By default away fans are housed within the lower tier of the south-east corner, essentially within the southern-goal end.

As you would expect from a relatively new stadium, views from the visitors zone and other parts of the ground are decent with the cantilevered roof designed ensuring that there are no restricted views.

Best Pubs

The map below reveals the location of four of the most football friendly pubs in Caen.

Although they are all located within the city centre, they’re not too far away from the stadium that you couldn’t feasible make the journey by foot.

Food

There aren’t too many fast-food joints immediately around the environs of Stade Michel d’Ornano which means you can either grab something such as a McDonalds within the city centre or wait until you get to the ground where the usual matchday options await.

Club Shop

SM Caen operate a single club store at their stadium in addition to an official online boutique. It is located within the back of the eastern stand on 23 Boulevard Georges Pompidou, and is usually pretty busy just before kick-off.

Opening Hours:

• Monday to Saturdays: 10.00 am – 7.00 pm
• Matchdays: 10.00 am until kick-off.

Stadium Tours

It doesn’t look as if either SM Caen or the local council currently offers fans the chance to undertake a tour of the facilities at Michel d’Ornano. If the club ever decide to change their stance on this we’ll be sure to update this section.

Ticket Information

Tickets to see SM Caen in action at Stade Michel d’Ornano can be purchased online from the official website, at the ticket office at the stadium in the days leading up to the match and from various points throughout the city such as Bank Caen Calvados.

Ticket Prices

• Popular: €14.00
• Second: €19.00
• First: €25.00
• J Tribune: €31.00
• Reserved: €36.00

Note: The above prices are based on matches against Olympique Lyon, and may well be cheaper for smaller clubs.

Matchday Travel

Stade Michel d’Ornano is located just over 2.8 km from Caen city centre with the resulting journey by foot likely to take the average person no more 45 minutes.

Driving

The address is as follows:

• Stade Michel d’Ornano, Boulevard Georges Pompidou, 14000 Caen, France

Car Parks

There are two official car-parks located within the north-west and north-west areas adjacent to the stadium, in addition to various on-street parking which surrounds the local streets.

Train

The city is served by a single railway station, Gare de Caen, which is located approximately 4.5 km east of Stade Michel D’Ornano.

Airports and Flying

The closest airport is Caen-Carpiquet and it is located just 6.00 km west of the Caen. It is the largest airport in the Lower-Normandy area relative to the number of passengers it serves.

Hotels

There are a number of hotels located five minutes south of the ground on Rue Caponiere which is a major road into the city.The centre of Caen does of course have much more varied options including the Hotel Ibis Budget, Hotel France and a Best Western.