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Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez, commonly known as Estadio Metropolitano, or colloquially, El Metro, is a multi-use
all-seater An all-seater stadium is a sports stadium in which every spectator has a seat. This is commonplace in professional association football stadiums in nations such as the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands. Most association football an ...
football
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
Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of Atlántico Department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean Coast region; as of 2018 it had a population of 1,206,319, making it Col ...
, Colombia. It is the home stadium of local football team
Atlético Junior Club Deportivo Popular Junior F.C. S.A. (), commonly known as Junior de Barranquilla, by its old name Atlético Junior, or simply as Junior, is a Colombian professional football team based in Barranquilla, that currently plays in the Categorí ...
. It was built with a capacity of 46,692 for the Colombian World Cup bid in 1986. The stadium was inaugurated that year with a game 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 Junior, which the Uruguayans won 2–1. It is the largest stadium in Colombia, after the Estadio Deportivo Cali's renovation. The first official name of the stadium was ''Estadio Metropolitano'', which was changed around 1991 in order to honor the Colombian footballer Roberto Meléndez. This is the official stadium for the national football team of Colombia.


History

Before the construction of Estadio Metropolitano, the city only had the Romelio Martínez Stadium, which was built in 1934 with a capacity of 10,000 spectators. Since the advent of professional football to Barranquilla in 1948, it became evident the need for a sports arena that would house the football fans. In the early 1970s, the expansion of the Romelio Martínez Stadium was projected with the construction of new bleachers for the sports arena. However, an architectural error would force the reduction of the 72nd Street to complete the works. After some time it was decided to demolish the new forum yet unfinished in the midst of strong criticism, which the local press called the Gallery of Shame. Due to the large amount of money being spent on this project, it failed because subsequent studies showed the impossibility of conducting a proper extension to the scenario, it was decided that the best solution was to design an entirely new football stadium for the city. In 1979, the governor of the department of Atlántico, Pedro Martín Leyes presented President Julio César Turbay the project to build a new stadium in Barranquilla, supported the idea of doing a host of World Cup 1986 to be held in Colombia. The project is approved and the foundation stone for the building is placed on December 7 of 1979 in an area of 30 hectares, located on the avenue Circunvalar with Murillo Street, donated by the Instituto de Crédito Territorial (Inscredial). For its construction the firm ''Metrofútbol'' was formed, led by architect Jaime de Biasse. José Francisco Ramos was appointed as architect of the stadium, awarding construction to engineer Julio Gerlein and electrical Engineer Luis Gonzalo Prada Ch.


Inauguration

The construction of Estadio Metropolitano lasted six years, after which a grand opening was held on May 11, 1986 with a folk show in which 5,000 artists, an awards ceremony for VIPs Sport Colombia, a giant ball that left 200 white doves and the holding of an international friendly match. The opening match was played between the teams Junior and Uruguay national team, led by coach Omar Borrás, which was preparing for
1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...
. The match ended with Uruguay's victory 1-2, goals scored by
Enzo Francescoli Enzo Francescoli Uriarte (; born 12 November 1961), nicknamed "El Príncipe" ("The Prince"), is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as a attacking midfielder. He is regarded as one of the best playmakers of his generation and as one of Uru ...
(the first goal scored in the stadium at 62 minutes) and Jorge da Silva for the visitors and José "Perilla" Angulo for the locals, all goals scored in the second half. The first red card was for Uruguayan player Walter Barrios at 87 minutes. Four days later, another match was held against Argentina national team during their tour in preparation for the same event, which ended up winning the future world championship.


Events

This stadium was one of the venues where Colombian National Games in 1992 were contested. Hosted the
2001 Copa América The 2001 Copa América was held in Colombia, from 11 to 29 July. It was organised by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. Colombia won the tournament for the 1st time without conceding a goal. Brazil were the defending champions wh ...
including the opening ceremony with a colourful parade and a show dance. The venue held six matches in Group A which included the national teams of Colombia,
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...
,
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...
and
Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar language, Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechuan ...
, between July 11 and 17. Was the venue where Colombia national team played the qualification matches for World Cups in Italy (1990), United States (1994),
France (1998) The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...
and
Germany (2006) The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...
. For the first three, Colombia qualified for the final tournament after 28 years of absence. It also hosted the qualification matches for
2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting rig ...
where Colombia qualified again after 16 years of absence. It hosted the farewell match for Carlos Valderrama on February 1, 2004, which was attended by players
Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...
, José Luis Chilavert,
Enzo Francescoli Enzo Francescoli Uriarte (; born 12 November 1961), nicknamed "El Príncipe" ("The Prince"), is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as a attacking midfielder. He is regarded as one of the best playmakers of his generation and as one of Uru ...
,
Alberto Acosta Alberto Federico 'Beto' Acosta Tabizzi (born 23 August 1966) is an Argentine retired footballer who played as a striker. In a professional career which spanned 18 years (nearly 700 official games and more than 250 goals), he played for San L ...
, Mauricio Serna,
Faustino Asprilla Faustino Hernán Asprilla Hinestroza (born 10 November 1969) is a Colombian former professional footballer who most notably played for Parma, Newcastle United and the Colombia national team as a forward. Club career Early years After starting ...
, Arnoldo Iguarán, Leonel Álvarez and the popular singer
Carlos Vives Carlos Alberto Vives Restrepo (born 7 August 1961) is a Colombian singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his interpretation of traditional music styles of Colombia such as vallenato, cumbia, champeta, bambuco and porro as well as ge ...
. In 2006, the stadium hosted some football matches of the
XX Central American and Caribbean Games The 20th edition of the Central American and Caribbean Games was held in the city of Cartagena, Colombia. The tournament began on July 15 and ended on July 30. Host city *Main host city **Cartagena de Indias *Subsites: ** Barranquilla, Colombia ...
, which were held in Cartagena. In 2011, the stadium was one of eight stadiums that hosted matches during the
FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when ...
, including the opening ceremony. The stadium has also hosted numerous concerts of various artists such as
REO Speedwagon REO Speedwagon (originally stylized as R.E.O. Speedwagon) is an American rock band from Champaign, Illinois. Formed in 1967, the band cultivated a following during the 1970s and achieved significant commercial success throughout the 1980s. T ...
,
Franco De Vita Franco Atilio De Vita De Vito (born January 23, 1954, in Caracas, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan Latin Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter. His first album as a solo artist garnered three Spanish-language hits in Venezuela. He signed with the ...
,
Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the " Queen of Latin Music" and is ...
,
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and
Carlos Vives Carlos Alberto Vives Restrepo (born 7 August 1961) is a Colombian singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his interpretation of traditional music styles of Colombia such as vallenato, cumbia, champeta, bambuco and porro as well as ge ...
. On June 27, 2019, the stadium was announced as the venue to host the 2021 Copa América Final. The announcement was made by Ernesto Lucena, Director of
Coldeportes The Administrative Department of Sport, Recreation, Physical Activity and the Use of Free Time, Coldeportes was the national government department of sports in and for Colombia; it is charged with fomenting, planning and organizing the activities ...
.


Facilities

The stadium has five galleries: Southern (Korea), with the "Frente Rojiblanco Sur" supporters; Northern (Vietnam), with the groups of supporters "La Banda" and "Los Kuervos"; Eastern, Western and numbered Western. It also has four dressing rooms, eight bathrooms, 27 radio booths, newsroom systems, lighting towers (24 reflectors), medical services and parking for up to 1,600 vehicles. The stadium's field measures 110 m by 75 m. The south and north side galleries were the names of Korea and Vietnam, respectively, in honor of two Asian countries that suffered from wars during the twentieth century, one of which was the presence of Colombian soldiers fighting (Korea). A complete renovation with a budget of COP$22,500,000,000. The remodeling of the stadium involved building giant screens, repairing of the athletic track, a new parking lot behind the north gallery, new lighting, dressing rooms for ball-catchers, overall structure restoration, a security camera system, renovation of electrical systems and communications among other improvements.


Location and access routes

Estadio Metropolitano is located in the south of the city, heading for Transport Terminal and the municipality of Soledad, near Shopping Centers and Metropolitan Metrocentro. Currently the gallery is constructed in the commercial public sector north side of the stadium (crossing the Avenida Las Torres). The crossing of the avenues and Circunvalar Murillo is an easily accessible, both avenues have enough availability of transport. At this point, is widening the carriageway of the road from the Avenue Circunvalar cordiality. Other gateways may be Boyacá Avenue and Avenida Las Torres. In Murillo street Transmetro, the mass transport line is an alternative access at Joaquín Barrios Polo station.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Melendez Sports venues completed in 1986
Metropolitano Metropolitano S.A. was a privately owned consortium formed in 1994 to take over concessions granted by the Argentine government as part of railway privatisation during the presidency of Carlos Menem for the operation of commuter rail services i ...
Copa América stadiums 1986 establishments in Colombia Buildings and structures in Barranquilla