Estadio Centenario is a

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

in the

Parque Batlle Parque Batlle (), formerly Parque de los Aliados (''Allied Park''), is a ''barrio'' (neighbourhood or district) and a major public central park in Montevideo, Uruguay. It is named in honour of José Batlle y Ordóñez, President of Uruguay from 190 ...

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Uruguay, used primarily for

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 ...

, and owned by the

Montevideo Department Montevideo () is a department (''departamento'') of Uruguay. It is by far the smallest department in area, but also by far the most populated. Its capital is the city of Montevideo, which is also the national capital. While most of the departme ...

. The stadium was built between 1929 and 1930 to host the inaugural

1930 FIFA World Cup The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national football teams. It took place in Uruguay from 13 to 30 July 1930. FIFA, football's international governing body, selected Uruguay as host nation ...

, as well as to commemorate the centenary of Uruguay's first constitution. It is listed by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

as one of the football world's classic stadiums. On July 18, 1983, it was declared by FIFA as the first Historical Monument of World Football, to this day the only building to achieve this recognition worldwide.The mythical Centenario stadium, a "Historical Monument of Football", welcomes the finals of the U-20 Sudamericano Tournament
, January 25, 2015HISTORIA
Estadio Centenario is the

national stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

of Uruguay and the primary home of their national football team. Uruguay has always been a threat when playing in their home stadium, consistently beating top teams. Even the top-ranked

Brazil national football team The Brazil national football team ( pt, Seleção Brasileira de Futebol), nicknamed ''Seleção Canarinho'' (‘Canary Squad’, after their bright yellow jersey), represents Brazil in men's international football and is administered by the B ...

has only managed three wins in 20 attempts; two were official matches during

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2018 World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA FIFA#Structure, confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia national football team, Rus ...

, but one was Uruguay's heaviest defeat at the stadium when they lost 4–0 to Brazil in 2009.

History

The construction of the Centenario is one of the most important stages in the development of sports in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

and international football. It was built especially for the

, by immigrant workers in a record time of nine months. Its name originates from the 100-year-celebration of the ratification of the first Constitution of Uruguay. Initially, all World Cup matches were to be played in the Centenario. However, heavy rains in

delayed construction of the stadium, so that several matches had to be played in the Pocitos Stadium of

C.A. Peñarol CA or ca may refer to: Businesses and organizations Companies * Air China (IATA airline code CA) * CA Technologies, a U.S. software company * Cayman Airways, a Cayman Islands airline * Channel America, a defunct U.S. television network * Classi ...

, and the Parque Central of

Club Nacional de Football Club Nacional de Football (, ''National Football Club'' or simply as Nacional) is a Uruguayan professional sports club based in Montevideo. The club was founded on 14 May 1899 as a result of the merger between ''Uruguay Athletic Club'' and ''Mon ...

. It was inaugurated on July 18, 1930, with a match between

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

; the ''Celeste'' won 1–0 with a goal by Hector "Manco" Castro. The final match of the inaugural World Cup matched

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, with

winning 4–2. Since then, the Centenario has been the scene of

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

(

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

), three

South American Youth Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as U-20 South American Championship and es, Torneo Juventudes de América, "Campeonato Sudamericano Sub 20" or pt, Juventude da América (English: "America's Youth") is a South American ...

s (

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

), a

South American Under-17 Football Championship The South American U-17 Championship (; ) is a football competition held every two years for South American under-17 teams. The tournament was born in 1985 out of a need for a classification tournament for the newly created FIFA U-16 World Cup (now ...

(

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

) and

1980 Mundialito The 1980 World Champions' Gold Cup (Spanish for ''"Copa de Oro de Campeones Mundiales"''), also known as Mundialito (''"Little World Cup"''), was a friendly international football tournament organized by the Uruguayan Football Association and sup ...

. In 2021, the Centenario was selected as host of the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

and

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...

finals. The stadium was renovated to prepare for those matches. The total cost of the works was $6 million and included the renovation of the grandstands, bathrooms, VIP boxes, and press boxes, along with a new illumination system and new pitch.

Tenants

Aside from the Uruguay national team, any football club can rent the stadium for its home matches.

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (; English: ''Peñarol Athletic Club'') —also known as ''Carboneros'', ''Aurinegros,'' and (familiarly) ''Manyas''— is a Uruguayan sports club from Montevideo. The name "Peñarol" comes from the Peñarol neigh ...

has done that often,Peñarol – Matches
/ref> and

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

rents it for some international matches.Nacional – Matches
/ref> Peñarol played all of its home matches at the stadium from 1933 until it moved to

Estadio Campeón del Siglo Estadio Campeón del Siglo is a football stadium located in Bañados de Carrasco, Montevideo, Uruguay, and the home ground of Peñarol, who plays in the First Division. It has a maximum capacity of 40,000. History Background Projects to o ...

in 2016. In the case of other Uruguayan teams, they often decide to play there against both Peñarol and Nacional.

Grandstands

The stadium has four Grandstand separated by four lanes. The main one is the'' Olympic'' Tribune (and lower Platea known as ''Olympic''), which is named so because the team had won two Olympic championships in a row (

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

and

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...

). This has a maximum capacity of 21,648 spectators located in the three rings and the audience. Then there are the "popular", so called because they are sold cheaper, these are: the ''Colombes'', in honor of the

Colombes Colombes () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. In 2019, Colombes was the 53rd largest city in France. Name The name Colombes comes from Latin ''columna'' (Old French ''colombe'') ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in which the national team became Olympic champions

and ''

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

'', because it was where the ''Celeste'' were crowned Olympic champions for the second time in

. The Grandstand ''Colombes'' accommodates 13,914 spectators while the ''Amsterdam'' accommodates 13,923. The ''America'' Tribune is parallel to the'' Olympic'' one. There are also "

VIP A very important person or personage (VIP or V.I.P.) is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social status, influence or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War 2 by RAF pilots. Examples incl ...

" boxes and press boxes with room for 1,882 spectators, as well as the platform has room for 2,911 spectators, and additionally the grandstand has room for 5,957 people. Under the Olympic Grandstand are located primary school "Nº 100 Héctor Fígoli"; and the Museum of Uruguayan Football. Under the Colombes Grandstand is located Police Station Nº9.

Other facilities

Inside the Centenario stadium, there are other facilities such as the "Uruguayan Football Museum" which highlights the sporting achievements of the Uruguayan national team. It is located under the Olympic grandstand of the Centenario stadium and was inaugurated on December 15, 1975. In 2004, it underwent a remodeling, in which a panoramic elevator was added to the ''Torre de los Homenajes''. The Museum has a large collection of objects that are reminders of the most outstanding moments of Uruguayan and world football. This is administered by the Official Field Administrative Commission (CAFO), which is made up of representatives of the AUF and the Montevideo Municipal Government. On July 21, 1929, the founding stone of the Stadium was laid, which is located under the tower and can also be visited. There is also a school running under the Olympic grandstand.

Sporting events

1930 FIFA World Cup

Estadio Centenario hosted ten matches of the 1930 FIFA World Cup, including both semi-final matches and the final match.

Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana Final

It hosted the final of the

on 20 November 2021 and the

on 27 November 2021.

Concerts

The stadium has held numerous concerts by both national and international artists such as: *

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...

* Amaral * Árbol *

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* Attaque 77 * Brian May * Bryan Adams * Buitres Después de la Una *

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* Chayanne *

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* ReyToro *

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References

External links

Estadio Centenario in Gigapan

Official website
(archived) {{Authority control 1930 establishments in Uruguay Sports venues completed in 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup stadiums Centenario Sport in Montevideo Buildings and structures in Montevideo National stadiums Copa América stadiums Museums in Montevideo Music venues completed in 1930 Articles containing video clips