Estadio Bernardo "Candela" Gil is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

stadium in San Miguelito, Panamá which hosts

Liga Panameña de Fútbol The Liga Panameña de Fútbol (LPF) ( en, Panamanian Football League) is the top division football league in Panama. Until 2009, the league was named ''Asociación Nacional Pro Fútbol (ANAPROF)''. Competition format The league's season is divide ...

team

Sporting San Miguelito Academia de Futbol Sporting San Miguelito is a Panamanian professional football team playing in Liga Panameña de Fútbol (the highest level of Panamanian football). Founded in 1989, it is based in San Miguelito District of Panamá Province. Hi ...

, Chepo F.C. and

Plaza Amador Plaza Amador is a Panamanian football club based in Panama City, that currently plays in Liga Panameña de Fútbol. It is the oldest team in Panama. History C.D Plaza Amador was founded in 1955 by Panamanian sports legend León Cocoliso Tejada ...

and Primera A teams Orión and Paraiso F.C. The stadium was formerly known as Estadio 28 de Diciembre'' which had a small 90x57 meter field of mixed sand and gravel, which made it hard for players to compete and therefore could not be used for ANAPROF games. In 2007, in a joint effort from the Panamanian government and the national sport institute (INDE), they were allowed to spend $298,880 in installing

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commer ...

to the field and increasing its size to 98x60 m. The stadium later was renamed for Bernardo Gil, a pioneer who managed to expropriate the land for use as a

stadium. The first official game in the renovated stadium was played on Sunday September 23, 2007 when Sporting '89 tied 1-1 with

Atlético Chiriquí Club Atlético Chiriquí is a Panamanian football team playing in Liga Panameña de Fútbol. It is based in David, Chiriquí and was founded on June 18, 2002 by Luis Denis Arce. Their home stadium is Estadio San Cristóbal. History Atlético C ...

in the ANAPROF championship. The first goal in the ''candela'' was scored by Eladio Mitre of Sporting '89.

Bernardo Gil

The stadium was renamed in order to honor the name of Bernardo "Candela" Gil, a pioneer in San Miguelito's

who managed to expropriate the land where the present stadium lies, and over the years developed the land into a functional stadium for the people of San Miguelito. The land before the expropriation was used as a "cantina" where locals would go to drink day and night. Seeing the land go to waste, Bernardo Gil and other pioneers fought hard, and even radically to get the land expropriated to the district; he even went to jail numerous times. It was not until

Panamanian Panamanians (Spanish: ''Panameños'') are people identified with Panama, a transcontinental country in Central America (a region within North America) and South America, whose connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For mo ...

general

Omar Torrijos Omar Efraín Torrijos Herrera (February 13, 1929 – July 31, 1981) was the Commander of the Panamanian National Guard and military leader of Panama from 1968 to his death in 1981. Torrijos was never officially the president of Panama, ...

saw how hard they were fighting for the construction of a

field where the district could practice the sport safely, that he ordered for the land to be expropriated and handed to the district. Later on the stadium was built and opened in 1977. Bernardo Gil went on to become president of the district league and provisional league; he remained president until his death.

References

{{coord, 9, 01, 50, N, 79, 29, 54, W, type:landmark_source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title 1977 establishments in Panama Football venues in Panama City Buildings and structures in Panamá Province San Miguelito District Sports venues completed in 1977