Estadio Monumental "U"
The Estadio Monumental U, officially Estadio Monumental (Monumental Stadium), is a football stadium in Lima, Peru, home ground of the football club Universitario de Deportes and was designed by the Uruguayan architect Walter Lavalleja Sarries. It was built throughout the 1990s and opened in 2000. It is Perus largest and most modern stadium and also the third largest in South America, behind the Maracana in Brazil and the Monumental Isidro Romero Carbo in Ecuador. It has a spectator-capacity of 80,093; 59,177 people can fit in the four stands and 20,916 in luxury box suites known as palcos. The stadium initially belonged to the construction company Gremco but was later sold to the football club. The stadium was built in accordance with FIFAs manual of technical specifications for stadiums.
The Monumental currently hosts the Peru national football team's home games. The Estadio Nacional is not used by the senior team due to the artificial turf that was installed in 2005. The stadium also hosts concerts. Some well-known celebrities have performed there such as Alanis Morissette, Carlos Santana, Alejandro Sanz, and Roger Waters.
Despite its size, it has never hosted any of the major sporting events that have come to Peru. Peru has hosted the 2004 Copa America and the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship. On both occasions, the Estadio Monumental did not take part. Similarly, the Estadio Monumental has also been rejected to host the Peruvian derby between Universitario and Alianza Lima known as the superclasico because of security issues.
Description
Located on Avenida Prolongacion Javier Prado Este, the stadium and sport complex cover an area of 186,542 m. The lower tier of the stadium consists of four standsknown as Norte, Sur, Oriente, and Occidente each having its own entrance. The east and west stands are all-seaters, while the north and south stands have standing terraces. In the center of the western stand, there is a small private area for about 600 spectators, which has a private entrance and commodities such as bathrooms and a cafeteria. The upper tier consists of the luxury suites which are 1,250 in total; the suite owners have a private parking lot. Behind the western and eastern stands, there is a handicapped zone. The maximum capacity could be expanded to 96,500 by retrofitting terraces in the northern and southern stands and using the bottom tier of suites for businesses, as it was originally meant to be.
The field is actually 18 meters below ground level and from the outside, only the luxury suites are visible. The field is 105 x 70 meters in size, with an area of grass ranging from 10 to 11 meters that separates the stands from the field for the safety of the players, should the fans decide to throw objects. In total, there is an area of 127 x 90 meters of grass. Modern floodlighting was installed, with a total of 160 Ultra Sport General Electric spotlights of 2000w. Above the northern stand, an LED display electronic scoreboard stands which measures 8 x 10 meters. Above the southern stand, a Philips screen is situated that measures 10 x 6 meters. Above the western stand, a surveillance room with eight security cameras monitor the interiors and exteriors of the stadium. The field is watered by sprinkler irrigation.
The stadium has four changing rooms which are below the western stand; two of them are the main changing rooms for the main game the stadium hosts, while the other two are for teams participating in a preliminary game. The changing rooms include showers, bathrooms, dressing rooms, and massage rooms. The main changing rooms have an office for the manager of the team. There is also an anti-doping room, the referees' changing room, and a chapel. Below the southern stand is a changing room for people who will be performing musical concerts.
History
Universitario de Deportes
This project began as far back as 1989 and construction began in January 1991. It was designed by the Uruguayan architect Walter Lavalleja Sarries, who also designed the Estadio Alejandro Villanueva and other stadiums in South America. The stadium was inaugurated on July 2, 2000 making it Universitarios new home venue, replacing the Estadio Teodoro Lolo Fernandez. Its first game was between Universitario and Sporting Cristal in which the home team won 2-0. Other clubs that use it for their home games are first division Universidad San Martin de Porres and second division Hijos de Acosvinchos.
Unfortunately, the stadium is not fit to host the classic derby between Universitario and Alianza Lima. The only time this stadium hosted the derby was on June 26, 2002the first round of the Apertura play-offwhere the home team won 1-0. Alianza's fans, in the southern stand, reacted violently to the loss by vandalizing the bathrooms and breaking handrails. Once outside the stadium, the fans broke the windows of nearby houses and destroyed cars. It was reported that two people in the stadium were stabbed. Elizabeth Querolchief of the National Institute of Civil Defense (Instituto Nacional de Defensa Civil)said that over 2,500 police forces were sent but these were not enough to stop the fans.
Since then, the Peruvian authorities have agreed not to allow the classic derby to be played there forcing Universitario to play its home derby games at the Estadio Nacional. The classic derby came close to be played in the Monumental in the Apertura of 2007. The municipality of Ate said that if the fans of Universitario behaved in their game against Bolognesi, they would consider allowing the classic derby to return to the Monumental. The idea was later dropped and on March 3, 2007, Universitario had to play in the Estadio Nacional as the home team, where they lost 1-2 to their arch-rival.
In 2007, Universitario's directors, led by German Leguia, Sports Manager (Gerente Deportivo) of the club, once again pushed the municipality of Ate and the National Police of Peru towards playing el clasico in the Monumental. The PNP would only allow the game to be played in Universitario's home ground on November 7, 2007 if they respected the conditions set by the PNP. Universitario and Alianza Lima both agreed not to allow Alianza's ultra group Comando Svr to attend the game and the palco owners agreed not to bring alcoholic drinks to the game. The round-8 game was postponed twice during the season. The first being the time Universitario was playing Atletico Nacional in Colombia for the Copa Sudamericana. The second postponement was due to the fund-raising concert held at the Estadio Nacional for the victims of the 2007 Peru earthquake.
Despite the efforts made by German Leguia, the PNP did not allow el clasico to take place at the Monumental because of security reasons. This angered the directors and they heavily criticized the PNP for not being able to carry out their job. The club then decided to move the game to Chimbote. They chose this ground because they had already played their once before and won against Municipal in a friendly game and because they prefer that stadium's artificial turf to the other ones in the north of Peru. The game in Chimbote, however, was a 1-3 loss for Universitario.
It is interesting to note that this stadium was rejected as a venue for the Copa America 2004 because of problems with Alfredo Gonzalez, President of Universitario de Deportes, and the clubs directors. Many saw this as a typical bullying behavior on the part of the president since this stadium would have been the perfect venue to host the 2004 Copa America intro as well as final games.
Peru national football team
The Peru national football team has not had a lot of success when playing at the Monumental. So far it has only won once of the eight times it has played there adding four draws and two losses. The first time it played in the Monumental was against Ecuador for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers where they lost 1-2 and their first and only win being against Bolivia, winning 2-0 in a friendly. Despite their unpopular record, the Estadio Monumental is Peru's home ground for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. Efforts have been made by the FPF to move the home field to the Estadio Garcilaso de la Vega in Cusco. Due to the recent altitude ban, FIFA has not allowed Peru to play its home games there.
Events
The Monumental "U" has been host to other important events outside the sphere of football. Notable music artists who have performed in the stadium include:
Roger Waters - The Dark Side of the Moon Live, 2007
Alejandro Sanz - Tour El Tren de los Momentos, 2007
Carlos Santana - All that I am Tour, 2006
Juanes - Tour Mi Sangre, 2005
Alanis Morissette - Feast on Scraps Tour, 2003
External links
Satellite picture by Google Maps
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Estadio Monumental "U"
