The Estadio Carlos Salazar Hijo is a
football stadium in
Mazatenango,
Guatemala, home to one of the most traditional first division clubs in the country,
Deportivo Suchitepéquez (los venados). It has a
capacity of 10,000 (formerly 12,000) and it is situated in the neighbourhood of Santa Cristina.
The stadium was opened on 24 November 1966 and its cost was Q. 8,000,000. It was named after Carlos Salazar, Jr. a local sports commentator who organized a
radiothon
A telethon (a portmanteau of "television" and "marathon") is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or even days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other purportedly worthy cause.
Most telethons f ...
to fund its construction. It was the first stadium in the country, outside of Guatemala City, to have lighting.
[http://128.121.66.148/noticias/16616]
On 2 October 1983 Deportivo Suchitepéquez won the national league title at the stadium by beating
Antigua GFC
Antigua Guatemala Fútbol Club is a Guatemalan professional football team based in Antigua Guatemala. They compete in the Liga Nacional, the top tier of Guatemalan football. They play their home games at the Estadio Pensativo. They are nickn ...
4–1.
In 2000 it was approved by
FIFA to host
World Cup qualification
The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup.
Qualifying tournaments are hel ...
matches.
The
Guatemala national team played its first official game at the stadium on 16 July 2000 against the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
during the
semifinal round of the 2002 World Cup qualifying. Later that year, Guatemala's last match of the round was played at the Carlos Salazar, where the host team beat
Costa Rica 2-1 and forced a playoff between the two teams.
In 2007 it hosted one of the two national league final matches, between Suchitepéquez and
C.D. Jalapa.
References
External links
Venue information at Deportivo Suchitepéquez' official web site
Carlos Salazar Hijo
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