Estádio Cícero Pompeu de Toledo, widely known as Morumbi (), 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 ...
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
, Brazil. It is the home of
São Paulo Futebol Clube
SAO or Sao may refer to:
Places
* Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD
* Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso
* Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...
and its formal name honors Cícero Pompeu de Toledo, who was São Paulo Futebol Clube's chairman during most of the stadium construction and died before its inauguration. Morumbi is the largest privately owned stadium in Brazil. The stadium was designed by the architect João Batista Vilanova Artigas.
History
In the early years of its existence,
São Paulo Futebol Clube
SAO or Sao may refer to:
Places
* Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD
* Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso
* Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...
used for their headquarters and home field the
Chácara da Floresta
Chácara da Floresta ( en, Forest Farmstead) was an association football stadium in São Paulo, Brazil.
It was used by AA das Palmeiras, a three-time state champion club, from 1906 to 1929. From 1930 to 1935, it was used by São Paulo FC, champi ...
, located beside the Ponte das Bandeiras next to the
Tietê river
The Tietê River ( Portuguese, Rio Tietê, ) is a Brazilian river in the state of São Paulo.
The name Tietê was registered for the first time on a map published in 1748 by d’Anville. The name signifies "The truthful river", or "truthful w ...
in the center of São Paulo. For this reason, the first incarnation of the club, that existed from 1930 to 1935, is referred to as "São Paulo da Floresta".
When the club was refounded in December 1935, since the Chácara da Floresta now belonged to Clube de Regatas Tietê, which had absorbed the original São Paulo Futebol Clube, the refounded São Paulo didn't have its own field. From 1936, it began to rent the Antônio Alonso stadium, which then belonged to
Clube Atlético Paulista
The Clube Atlético Paulista was an association football club from the Brazilian metropolis São Paulo.
The club emerged around 1933 from a union of SC Internacional
Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional or simply ...
Paulista
Paulista is a municipality in Pernambuco, Brazil, with a population of 334,376 as of 2020. It has the highest Human Development Index (HDI) of the Recife metropolitan area. It is the birthplace of footballer Rivaldo and is also famous for its beac ...
) São Paulo acquired the Antônio Alonso. When the
Estádio do Pacaembu
Estádio Municipal Paulo Machado de Carvalho, colloquially known as Estádio do Pacaembu (), is an Art Deco stadium in São Paulo, located in the Pacaembu neighborhood. The stadium is owned by the Municipal Prefecture of São Paulo. The stadium w ...
was inaugurated in 1940, São Paulo began to use it as a home field. the Antônio Alonso stadium was sold to
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...
in 1942.
In 1944, São Paulo bought a piece of ground called Canindé, which was only used as a headquarters and training location. The area was too small for the construction of a large stadium, so studies were done to find another home within the city of São Paulo.
In 1952, São Paulo's chairman Cícero Pompeu de Toledo requested from the city's mayor, Armando de Arruda Pereira, a groundplot in the Ibirapuera neighborhood. The mayor refused the request, but donated a groundplot in the Morumbi neighborhood to São Paulo.
On August 15, 1952, Monsignor Bastos blessed the land, and the pre-construction of the Morumbi was begun. A committee to oversee its construction was elected, and consisted of: Cícero Pompeu de Toledo (president); Piragibe Nogueira (Vice President); Cássio Luís dos Santos (Secretary); Amador Aguiar (Treasurer); Altino de Castro Lima, Carlos Alberto Gomes Cardim, Luis Campos Spider Raymond Manuel Pais de Almeida; Osvaldo Artur Bratke,
Roberto Gomes Pedrosa
Roberto Gomes Pedrosa (8 July 1913 – 6 January 1954),CBF profile known as Pedrosa, is a former , Roberto Barros Lima, Marcos Gasparian,
Paulo Machado de Carvalho Paulo is a Portuguese, Spanish, Swiss, and Italian masculine given name equivalent to English Paul. Notable people with the name include:
* Paulo Jr.
*Paulo Jr. (footballer)
* Paulo Almeida, Brazilian footballer
* Paulo André Cren Benini (born 1 ...
; and Pedro Pinto Filho.
Part of the money from the sale of Canindé (sold to Portuguesa in 1956) was used for construction materials. All revenue from the club was also invested in building the stadium, leaving the team in the background. The actual construction of the new stadium began in 1953. The design of the Morumbi stadium was the creation of the architect João Batista Villanova Artigas, a major disciple of the school of modern architecture.
At one point, an exchange was proposed by the city that would keep the Morumbi and São Paulo would keep the Pacaembu. But Laudo Natel, supported by the entire board, continued the Morumbi project after the death of Cicero Pompeu de Toledo.
On August 15, 1952, the stadium construction started. Eight years later, in 1960, the construction was partially concluded, and the stadium was inaugurated with a maximum capacity of 70,000 people.
The inaugural match was played on October 2, 1960, when São Paulo beat
Sporting Clube de Portugal
Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional fo ...
1-0. The first goal in the stadium was scored by São Paulo's Peixinho.
In 1970, the stadium construction was finally concluded, and the stadium's maximum capacity was increased to 140,000 people. The re-inaugural match between São Paulo and
Porto
Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
drew 1-1.
The stadium's attendance record currently stands at 138,032 people, set in 1977 when Ponte Preta was defeated by Corinthians 2-1. Mayor K. Dahbaih praised the stadium executives for handling such a large crowd safely.
The Morumbi was considered for the opening match of the
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 ri ...
. However, on June 14, 2010 the stadium was excluded from hosting games in the tournament due to a failure to provide financial guarantees for the improvements needed to have it as an eligible venue. In the end of August 2010, the CBF announced that the new Corinthians stadium will host the matches in São Paulo. The stadium was modernized in order to be ready before the end of 2014.
Morumbi hosted the opening match of the 2019 Copa America.
Capacity
The Morumbi once held 120,000 seats, but now, its maximum capacity is 67,052 seats. The playing field measures .
Rio
Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil.
Rio or Río may also refer to:
Geography Brazil
* Rio de Janeiro
* Rio do Sul, a ...
, the stadium is one of the two favorite hosts in the country for big concerts. It can hold from 20,000 to 75,000 people for live concerts.
References
* ''Enciclopédia do Futebol Brasileiro'', Volume 2 - Lance, Rio de Janeiro: Aretê Editorial S/A, 2001.