Estadio Nacional (Lima)
The Estadio Nacional of Lima is a multi-use stadium located in Lima, Peru with a capacity of 45,574. Inaugurated on October 27, 1952, it has been Peru's principal and national stadium and a venue for three of the six Copa America football competitions held in Peru. It is referred to as the Estadio Coloso de Jose Diaz due to the street it is located on. It is the home ground of the Peru national football team and several football clubs in Lima. It replaced the Old National Stadium (Viejo Estadio Nacional) that was torn down to make way for the Nacional; the Old National Stadium hosted the earlier three South American Competitions. Its purpose was to host the 1953 South American Championship. It is owned by IPD (Peruvian Sport Institute) and has a running track as well as articial turf that was installed for the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship. The stadium is undergoing renovations to be able to host the 2015 Pan American Games.
History
Peru obtained its first soccer-based field in the late 19th century, when the club Union Cricket asked the Municipality of Lima for an appropriate piece of land where they could play soccer. The municipality gave them a small piece of land in the Santa Beatriz neighborhood where the old field belonging to a certain club of Lima was situated. On July 18, 1897, the field was officially inaugurated and named Estadio Guadalupe. The Liga Peruana de Futbol (known as the FPF today) used it for the first tournaments in Lima.
In 1921, the English government gave the Guadalupe to Peru as a gift. It had small wooden stands that could not support the city's fans that came every week. They renamed it Estadio Nacional and today is known as the Viejo Estadio Nacional. It was in the 1950s, that Miguel Dasso and the Peruvian President General Manuel A. Odria began to fund a project to expand the stadium so that Peru may be able to enjoy the Copa America of 1953 with a larger stadium. They planned to have a spectator-capacity of 48,000 and have it entirely made out of cement. The northern and southern stands would have a capacity of 15,000 each while the preferred eastern and western stands would have three levels. On October 27, 1952, the new Estadio Nacional Jose Diaz was inaugurated with many comfortable features such as luxury boxes and elevators in one of the stands.
The official spectator-capacity was reduced to 42,000 in 1964. This was done as a result of a tragedy which occurred after a Peru vs. Argentina game which ended in a feeling of discontent by the spectators as they thought a goal from Peru was annulled unfairly two minutes before the game ended. The police took the erroneous decision to close the exit doors and used tear gas to calm violent fans, resulting in the asphyxia of more than 300 persons as people rushed to the stadium's exits and accidentally pushed and knocked down other fans.
The Viejo Estadio Nacional was the sole venue for the South American Championship 1927, 1935, and 1939. The present Estadio Nacional hosted the South American Championship 1953 and 1957. The stadium hosted Universitario's international tournaments and in 1972 it saw Universitario reach the final of the Copa Libertadores. This happened again in 1997 with Sporting Cristal. In 1992, modern lighting was installed into the stadium. In 1996, an electronic scoreboard was installed to replace the old manual one. The stadium's symbolic element is the tower situated in the northern stand. This tower was abandoned for many years until in 2004, it was used again for the Copa America.
For many years the 42,000 capacity was its official limit, until it was expanded to 45,000 for the Copa America 2004 held in Peru. Very popular international football teams and renowned players have played in this stadium, including Spain's Real Madrid, as well as players like Pele and Maradona in previous years.
Thanks to a 5-million dollar government investment program to remodel older Peruvian stadiums, spectators were able to enjoy games with the high standards required by CONMEBOL for the Copa America 2004. This was also the first time the Estadio Nacional was not the sole venue for the South American competition. In return the country received throngs of tourists, international media coverage, and more locals buying tickets to attend the games. Peru's biggest stadium, Estadio Monumental, is also located in Lima with a capacity of 80,093 and belongs to the club Universitario de Deportes, although it was not used for the Copa America 2004.
Peru also hosted the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship. This stadium hosted several games including the final. Artificial turf was installed for this competition into all the venues used. The artificial turf still remains in the Estadio Nacional but has received heavy criticism from clubs of the Peruvian First Division, asking to remove it because of the constant injuries it causes. This is also the reason why the Peru national football team is not using the stadium for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. The stadium is undergoing renovations to be able to host the 2015 Pan American Games. New seats have recently been installed in both the western and eastern stands. This is the first step towards preparing a successful bid for the Pan American Games.
Games hosted
All times are UTC-5
2004 Copa America
2005 U-17 World Championship
External links
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Estadio Nacional (Lima)
