Twickenham must remove ‘Allianz Stadium’ name for 2025 Rugby World Cup

The newly renamed Allianz Stadium will be forced to revert to its traditional name of Twickenham for next year’s Rugby World Cup in England as part of sponsorship regulations around the tournament.

Because of the World Cup’s strict licensing agreements between tournament organisers and stakeholders, the stadium will be referred to as Twickenham throughout what will be the first major tournament to be held at the ground following the name change.

The 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan had a similar situation with its major venues, with the Nissan Stadium referred to as Yokohama Stadium throughout the competition. That venue was chosen to host the final following the delayed construction of the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.

With the need for “clean” stadium branding, other venues around England being used in the 2025 women’s competition will go through similar name changes, with the AMEX Stadium in Brighton referred to as “Brighton & Hove”, the AJ Bell Stadium changed to “Salford Community Stadium”, Cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens in Northampton switching to “Franklin’s Gardens” and the LNER Community Stadium in York reverting to “York Community Stadium”.

Bill Sweeney, the Rugby Football Union chief executive, had addressed the name change on Tuesday, denying that the RFU had “sold out” by dropping the Twickenham name which has been in place since 1909.

“I really don’t believe we’ve sold out,” Sweeney told the BBC. “It’s an iconic stadium, it’s the home of rugby, experiences here are incredible, people love coming here.

“But we believe this will help us build on the legacy of the stadium, this will take us into the future, into decades from here and the investment from Allianz will enable us to make Twickenham an even better experience for fans and players.

“We believe this is an investment into the future with the sort of partner we need to go on that journey.”

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