Estádio Olímpico Monumental (''Monumental Olympic Stadium'', in English), also known as Estádio Olímpico de Porto Alegre (''Porto Alegre Olympic Stadium'') and Estádio Olímpico (''Olympic Stadium'') until 1980, 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

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...

, in the

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian state of

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

, with a maximum capacity of 45,000 people. The stadium is owned by

Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense (), commonly known as Grêmio, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Porto Alegre, capital city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The club plays in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série ...

. Inaugurated on September 19, 1954, the stadium was the home field of the Grêmio football club before being the team moved to

Arena do Grêmio Arena do Grêmio is a multi-use stadium in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. It was inaugurated on December 8, 2012. It is used mostly for association football, football matches and as the home stadium of Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense, replac ...

in December 2012. Currently, the venue is not in use by the club and suffers from lack of maintenance.

History

The stadium was inaugurated on September 19, 1954, with a maximum capacity of 38,000 people. In 1980, the stadium was expanded, and its capacity increased to 85,000 people. In 1990, the upper ring bleachers were numbered, and the Olímpico Monumental's capacity decreased to 51,081 people. The inaugural match was played on September 19, 1954, when Grêmio beat

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 ...

of Uruguay 2–0. The first goal of the stadium was scored by Grêmio's player Vitor. The stadium's attendance record currently stands at 85,721, set on April 26, 1981, when Ponte Preta beat Grêmio 1–0. Grêmio won 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 ...

at Estádio Olímpico Monumental on July 29, 1983, after defeating

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 ...

from Uruguay in a difficult match. Grêmio moved from the Estádio Olimpico Monumental to the new

on December 8, 2012.

Other uses

The stadium is also used for large concerts. The first concert in the history of the stadium was the former member of the band

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police ...

, the singer-songwriter

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

. For this concert, 60,000 people were at the stadium to cheer him, and it was one of the largest international shows to have passed through the city of Porto Alegre. Two years later, it was time for

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

to perform at the stadium. Around 30,000 people attended the concert, this one with a less impressive number, considering that the singer performed in Florianópolis in the same week, emptying the show in Porto Alegre. In October 2001, the legend

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

performed for a fully packed stadium. In 2002,

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. Waters initially served as the bassist, but following the departure of singer-so ...

and the band

Rush Rush(es) may refer to: Places United States * Rush, Colorado * Rush, Kentucky * Rush, New York * Rush City, Minnesota * Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois * Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream * Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...

performed at sold-out stadium. The stadium has also hosted

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. His style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop and folk. Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Roc ...

´s concert in 2005, which was also a large audience. The American singer

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

performed a sold-out concert to 43.000 crowd at the stadium on December 9, 2012, as part of ''

MDNA Tour The MDNA Tour was the ninth concert tour by American singer Madonna, launched in support of her twelfth studio album, '' MDNA'' (2012). Comprising 88 shows, the tour began on May 31, 2012, in Tel Aviv's Ramat Gan Stadium and concluded in Córd ...

'', this one been the last concert on the stadium.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Estadio Olimpico Monumental Olimpico Monumental Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense Olimpico Monumental Sports venues completed in 1954 1954 establishments in Brazil