Wales to face Fiji at Cardiff City Stadium

Cardiff City Stadium will make history on Saturday, 4 July when it stages its first full international for the Wales men’s rugby side, hosting the opening round of World Rugby’s inaugural Nations Championship against Fiji.

The 33,280-capacity ground, opened in 2009 and more familiar with football and regional derby days, was chosen because Fiji are the designated “home” team for the fixture and have opted to play outside the Pacific Islands to ease travel demands and maximise commercial returns. The Welsh Rugby Union is not organising the match, and officials stress the switch from the Principality Stadium is unrelated to recent lower attendances under the Millennium Stadium roof.

Kick-off details are expected to be confirmed this week, but the date is already locked in as the curtain-raiser for a competition that will pit the Six Nations against Rugby Championship sides plus Japan in a 12-team, biennial format stretching across the summer and autumn Test windows.

Wales’ summer itinerary also includes trips to Argentina—likely in San Juan on 11 July—and to Durban on 18 July where they will meet South Africa. The Principality Stadium will be unavailable in late June and early July, with Metallica due in Cardiff on 28 June and Take That appearing earlier in the month, so the summer Tests will be spread among alternative venues.

Cardiff City Stadium is no stranger to rugby. It hosted the 2024 Judgement Day regional double-header, welcomed Cardiff Rugby for three seasons a decade ago, and held the 2011 European Challenge Cup final. Its profile has risen as the regular home of the Wales football team, and Football Association of Wales chief executive Noel Mooney has floated the possibility of the footballers returning to the Principality Stadium before the country co-hosts Euro 2028.

Fiji, meanwhile, will play all their designated home fixtures abroad, starting with the Wales clash before heading to Twickenham to meet England and then concluding group play against Scotland. The tournament’s three double-header finals days will be held at Twickenham on 27-29 November, where overall champions and a parallel inter-hemisphere winner will be crowned.

Wales return to the Principality Stadium in November for the second half of the competition, entertaining Japan, New Zealand and Australia, while organisers already have one eye on expansion: the 2028 finals could head to the Middle East, with the United States targeted for 2030 as World Rugby seeks fresh markets and new revenues.

For now, all eyes are on 4 July and a Cardiff football ground preparing to write a fresh chapter in Welsh rugby history.