The National Stadium of Costa Rica ( es, Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica) is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

La Sabana Metropolitan Park La Sabana Metropolitan Park ( es, Parque Metropolitano La Sabana) is located in downtown San José, Costa Rica. It is the country's largest and most significant urban park. ''La Sabana'' is considered "the lungs of San José" by Costa Ricans. ...

, San José,

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

. It is the first modern sport and event arena to be built in Central America.Costa Rica’s 35,000-seat National Stadium opens
Tico Times, 2011-03-25. The stadium was completed in 2011 and officially opened its doors to the public on March 26 that year, with a capacity of 35,175 seats.
La Nación, 2012-11-07. The stadium replaced the original National Stadium, and is the home stadium of the

Costa Rica national football team The Costa Rica national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Costa Rica) represents Costa Rica in men's international football. The national team is administered by the Costa Rican Football Federation (FEDEFUTBOL), the governing body f ...

. It has one high-definition screen, located in the southern section of the stadium, along with a smaller monochromatic screen, and another monochromatic screen of the same dimensions in the northern section. It was used to host matches during the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, including the opening game, the third place match and the Final. It was used to host matches during the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, including the opening game and the Final. It hosted the first show of

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...

Music of the Spheres World Tour The Music of the Spheres World Tour is the ongoing eighth concert tour currently being undertaken by British rock band Coldplay. It was announced on 14 October 2021 in support of their ninth studio album, ''Music of the Spheres'', and marked a ...

due to the green credentials of the country.

Funding and Construction

The initial cost was $88 million, it grew to $100 million.http://www.nacion.com/2010-10-15/Deportes/NotaPrincipal/Deportes2556136.aspx , Spanish. The Chinese government financed the construction, furnishing, and general costs of the stadium on their own. The old National Stadium was demolished on May 12, 2008, after UCR (Universidad de Costa Rica) vs.

Brujas FC Brujas F.C. was a Costa Rican football club, based in Desamparados, Costa Rica. The name Brujas translates to ''Witches''. The team's home town used to be Escazú, known around the country as "La ciudad de las Brujas" or "The Witches' Town", b ...

match and a 200M race where

Nery Brenes Nery Antonio Brenes Cárdenas, (born September 25, 1985) is a Costa Rican sprinter. He is one of Costa Rica's most prominent track and field athletes and reached the semi-finals at the 400 m sprint in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Brenes ...

set a new national record (20:28 seconds). The president of

Óscar Arias Óscar Arias Sánchez (; born 13 September 1940 in Heredia, Costa Rica) is a Costa Rican activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He was President of Costa Rica from 1986 to 1990 and from 2006 to 2010. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 198 ...

and the leader of

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Hu Jintao, agreed to build the stadium during Arias' first visit to China in October 2007. The construction began on March 12, 2009, and it finished in 2011. The Chinese company

Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group (AFECC) is a Chinese construction and mining company with an international focus that includes 14 overseas subsidiaries in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific Islands. Based on the value of ...

http://wvw.nacion.com/ln_ee/2009/julio/28/deportes2040316.html , Spanish. was in charge of the construction of the stadium. About 800 Chinese workers immigrated.

Inauguration

Inauguración Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica -1

The grand inauguration ceremony occurred on March 26, 2011. National and international sports activities and entertainment went on through April 10. An official stadium inauguration website was created, which informed the population of all inaugurating events. The main inaugurating event was a friendly

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

match between

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, which ended 2–2, with

Álvaro Saborío Álvaro Alberto Saborío Chacón (; born 25 March 1982) is a Costa Rican professional footballer, who plays as a forward and captains Costa Rican club San Carlos from the Primera División de Costa Rica. Saborío originally retired in 2017, b ...

scoring the first goal ever in the stadium. During 2011, the new stadium was subject of a heavy investment made by the

Costa Rican Football Federation The Costa Rican Football Federation ( es, Federación Costarricense de Fútbol, FCRF), also known as FEDEFUTBOL or FEDEFUT, is the official association football governing body in Costa Rica and is in charge of the Costa Rica national football tea ...

to propel Costa Rican football into the world scene. To do this, the federation organized friendly matches against previous FIFA World Cup winners

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 ...

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 ...

, and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, with the latter being the then most recent winners of the tournament.

Football tournaments

2013 Copa Centroamericana

The Estadio Nacional hosted all 14 matches of the 2013 Copa Centroamericana.

2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

El Nacional hosted nine games of the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. It hosted four Group A matches; including the opener, a Group C and Group D game, two quarterfinal matches, the 3rd place play-off and the final. The games were:

2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

Estadio Nacional hosted eighteen games of the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. It hosted four Group A matches, two Group B games, four Group C games, and two Group D games, two quarterfinal matches, two semifinal matches, the 3rd place play-off and the final. The games were:

Concerts

Fire incident

During the opening ceremony of the

2013 Central American Games The 2013 Central American Games, the X edition of the Central American Games, were celebrated in San José, Costa Rica from 3 to 17 March 2013. It was largest multi-sport event organized in Costa Rica. The games were officially opened by Costa ...

, a fire broke out in the stadium because of a stray firework which hit the western part of the stadium roof. The fire damaged some lighting equipments but the stadium was still used for the Games.

Panorama view

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Football venues in San José, Costa Rica Athletics (track and field) venues in Costa Rica

Multi-purpose stadiums in Costa Rica Sports venues completed in 2011 Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica CONCACAF Gold Cup stadiums