Estadio Presbítero Bartolomé Grella 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 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 ...

located in the city of Paraná in

Entre Ríos Province Entre Ríos (, "Between Rivers") is a central province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires (south), Corrientes (north) and Santa Fe (west), and Uruguay in the east. Its capital is Paraná ( ...

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 ...

. Originally named "Estadio Villa Sarmiento", it is owned and operated by

Club Atlético Patronato The Club Atlético Patronato de la Juventud Católica (commonly called Patronato or Patronato de Paraná, lit. 'Patronage of Parana') is an Argentine football club based in Paraná, Entre Ríos. The squad will compete in the second-tier Prim ...

, having been opened in 1956. The stadium has capacity for 14,000 spectators. The stadium was named after Presbyter Bartolomé Grella (

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, 1879 – Paraná, 1960), founder of C.A. Patronato.La historia del rojinegro
on Vavel, 31 Jan 2017 Grella had arrived in Paraná in 1914 to teach at the local seminary. That same year he bought a vacant land where his students could play football. Like French patronages –Christian centres with cultural and sports activities– he named the entity "Patronato de la Juventud Católica" (''Patronage of the Catholic Youth''). In 1931 he bought a land where the "Santa Teresita" chapel and two football pitchs would be built. Apart from religion, his main interest was to promote sports in children.Las distintas épocas conviven en Presbítero Bartolomé Grella
on El Diario (Paraná), (archived)El club de fútbol “más católico” de la Argentina
by Esteban Pittaro on Aleteia, 4 Apr 2019

History

The venue was inaugurated on 30 May 1956 in a friendly match between Patronato and Santa Fe's club Colón (won by the visitor team 3–1). The old concrete grandstand was inaugurated in a match vs

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

in 1968. It had capacity for 2,500 people. When Patronato participated in the 1978 Torneo Nacional, the stadium expanded its capacity with the construction of a stand on Presbítero Grella (then 'Suipacha', capacity of 3,000), another stand for 1,500 people, and the stalls (1,500). Due to the stadium hold the Latin America Missionary Congress (COMLA) in 1999, attended by over 20,000 missionary people the old stand on San Nicolás street was demolished, being replaced with another one with capacity for 15,000 people. That increased the stadium capacity to 22,000 people. Works were costed by the religious entity.Patronato celebró sus 96 años
on Análisis Digital, 1 Feb 2010 When Patronato promoted to

Primera B Nacional Primera Nacional (usually called simply Nacional B, in English "National B Division", and known as Primera B Nacional until the 2019–20 season) is the second division of the Argentine football league system. The competition is made up of 37 tea ...

in 2010, the club decided to refurbish the stadium to fit the AFA requirements. Works included sowing on the field, grandstand painting, construction of new press booths and an anti-doping control room, plus the remodelattion of locker rooms, among other improvements. The stadium had to be refurbished once more in 2023, prior to Patronato's debut in the

2023 Copa Libertadores The 2023 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores will be the 64th edition of the CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the ''Copa Libertadores''), South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. The winners of the 2023 Copa Lib ...

in order to fit

Conmebol The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...

requirements for its competitions. Remodellations included the installation of new

lighting Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylig ...

devices, grass sowing, and an

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...

system.Patronato logró la habilitación de Conmebol y jugará en su estadio por Copa Libertadores
on Doble Amarilla, 28 Apr 2023

References

{{Primera B Nacional venues

gre The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for many graduate schools in the United States and Canada and a few other countries. The GRE is owned and administered by Educational Testing Servi ...

Club Atlético Patronato Sports venues completed in 1956 1956 establishments in Argentina