Estadio Sierra Nevada (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

: ''Estadio Sierra Nevada'' ) (also known as Estadio Unidad Bolivariana Bureche) 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 the city of

Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta ("Touristic, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Marta"), is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena ...

, Colombia. The stadium was opened on 11 November 2017. It was the host stadium for the football matches at the

2017 Bolivarian Games The 2017 Bolivarian Games, officially the XVIII Bolivarian Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from 11–25 November 2017, in Santa Marta, Colombia. Host city selection Ciudad Bolivar (Venezuela) and Santa Marta (Colom ...

and home stadium for local

club

Unión Magdalena Unión Magdalena () commonly known as El Unión, and nicknamed as El Ciclón Bananero (The Banana Cyclone) and also Los Samarios (The Samarios), is a Colombian football club from the city of Santa Marta, capital of the department of Magdalena, ...

starting from

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. The stadium is designed with a capacity of 16,162 people. Due to delays, the stadium could not be completed by the start of the Bolivarian Games.

History

Construction

The decision to build the new stadium for the city of Santa Marta was made by mayor Rafael Martínez after Colombia won the bid to host the 2017 Bolivarian Games, which is organized by

ODEBO Organización Deportiva Bolivariana (ODEBO; English: Bolivarian Sport Organization) is a sports organization based in South America. It organizes the Bolivarian Games. History The idea of creating a Bolivarian sports organization came to mind to ...

. Considering it was better to build a multipurpose scenario rather than remodeling the Eduardo Santos Stadium, since the order to permanently close the Eduardo Santos was due to it presenting precarious safety conditions for those attending. InteriorEstadioEduardoSantos

The construction of the stadium started in November 2016 with

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

for 16,000 spectators and is the axis of the new for the 2017 Bolivarian Games. It was the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games as well as the men's U-17 and the women's U-20 soccer tournaments, although the western tribune of the stadium was incomplete at the time of the event. the new stadium is owned by the local the municipality of Santa Marta. The stadium is located in the sector of Bureche in the south of the city, within a lot of 34 hectares (340,000 m²). The stadium has been delayed during the construction multiple time for different reasons, it was scheduled to be completed between 2017 and 2018. Unfortunately, it caused criticism from the football club fans.

New Stadium

The opening ceremony of the Bolivarian games took place at the stadium on November 11 2017. The act was attended by the mayor of the city of Santa Marta, Rafael Martínez, the outgoing president of

, Danilo Carrera, and the director of Coldeportes, Clara Luz Roldán González. The two-hour ceremony was closed with a flourish by

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 genres ...

. The new stadium replaced Eduardo Santos Stadium as Unión's home starting from the 2018

Categoría Primera B Categoría Primera B, commonly referred to as Torneo BetPlay Dimayor due to sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay (formerly ''Torneo Águila''), is the second-division football league in Colombia. Format DIMAYOR has applied a new forma ...

season, the football club was able to return home after 1591 days without playing in this city. On 25 February 2018, Unión Magdalena played its first match at the Estadio Sierra Nevada, beating Atlético F.C. by a 2–1 score in the third matchday of the Primera B season. On 26 February 2019, one year later. Unión played its first Categoría Primera A match, lost to

Jaguares de Córdoba Jaguares de Córdoba is a professional Colombian football team based in Montería, that plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Jaraguay stadium. History The team was created on December 5, 2012 at a meeting he ...

by a 3–4 score, hat-trick scored by Ricardo Márquez.

Name

In October 2017, the mayor of the city, Rafael Martínez, in a press conference announced the name of the stadium "

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

", which is Santa Marta's isolated

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

. According to the mayor, the reasons of the name: "We consider that we have to highlight our natural, cultural wealth, of the Kogis, a value, hope, life, love...Values, so that they can be an example for the next generations to follow".

Location

The stadium is located in the sector of Bureche, in the south of the city. The stadium can be accessed by car and public transportation.

References

{{Categoría Primera A venues Football venues in Colombia