Los Pynandi World Cup Stadium (

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 Mundialista Los Pynandi), also known as Arena Pynandi , is a

beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or beasal, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand. Whilst football has been played informally on beaches, the introduction of ''beach soccer'' was an a ...

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 ...

Luque Luque () is a city in Central Department of Paraguay, part of the Gran Asunción metropolitan area. Both 1635 and 1750 have been recorded as dates of its founding. It was temporarily the capital of Paraguay in 1868 during the Paraguayan War be ...

Gran Asunción Greater Asunción ( es, Gran Asunción), is the metropolitan area of the capital city of Paraguay, Asunción. It consists of twenty cities: Asunción itself, the capital, and the surrounding cities in Central Department. One in three Paraguayans ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. It is located on the grounds of the

Paraguayan Olympic Committee The Paraguayan Olympic Committee or COP () is the National Olympic Committee representing Paraguayan athletes in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Pan American Games. It was created and recognized by the International Olympic Com ...

and was purpose-built to be the host venue of the

2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup The 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the 10th FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, the premier international beach soccer championship contested by men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. Overall, this was the 20th edition of a List ...

Construction

Paraguay's bid to host the

was all but confirmed as successful on 1 October 2018. The

Paraguayan Football Association The Paraguayan Football Association ( es, Asociación Paraguaya de Futbol ; APF) ( Guarani: ''Paraguái Mangapy Atyguasu''), is the omnibus governing body of football in Paraguay. It organizes the Paraguayan football league, including futsal a ...

(APF) put the stadium's construction contract out to tender on 15 October which ultimately went to the consortium of Cima-Ritter. Engineer Dionisio Lovera was tasked with coordinating the works, whilst Rubén García is credited as the stadium's

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. The constructors subsequently

broke ground Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are o ...

on the designated

greenfield Greenfield or Greenfields may refer to: Engineering and Business * Greenfield agreement, an employment agreement for a new organisation * Greenfield investment, the investment in a structure in an area where no previous facilities exist * Greenf ...

host site, on land belonging to the

, in early January 2019, with the full works scheduled to last for seven months. By mid-April, all foundations had been laid, structural columns were in place and the main stand was partially complete, with other stands beginning to be raised; work was described as being on schedule. On 16 July, the site was visited by APF president, Robert Harrison and a selection of

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

delegates who viewed the progress of works firsthand. In early August, construction had entered its "final phase"; all structural elements were complete, the pitch drainage system functional, and work was now focused on aesthetic and broadcasting elements. The stadium reportedly cost

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1.5 million to build, with investment from both FIFA and the APF. Its construction created around 200 jobs; the workforce and materials used were all nationally sourced, with the sand comprising the playing field sourced from the banks of the

Paraguay River The Paraguay River (Río Paraguay in Spanish, Rio Paraguai in Portuguese, Ysyry Paraguái in Guarani) is a major river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. It flows about from its headwaters in ...

. The structural framework of the stadium is that of

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

and

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

Opening

The arena, now completed, first hosted the Paraguay national team for training on 6 September and then hosted the

2019 Copa Libertadores de Beach Soccer The 2019 CONMEBOL Libertadores de Beach Soccer was the fourth edition of the '' Copa Libertadores de Beach Soccer'' (known natively in Spanish as the ''Copa Libertadores de Futbol Playa''), an annual continental beach soccer club tournament contest ...

tournament from 14–21 September. However, it was not officially opened until 9 November, two weeks before the World Cup for which it was primarily commissioned, during a ceremony in which FIFA president

Gianni Infantino Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino (; born 23 March 1970) is a Swiss football administrator with Italian citizenship and the current president of FIFA. He was elected President of FIFA during the 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress in February 2016. He ...

inaugurated the stadium under the name "Los Pynandi World Cup Stadium" (''Los Pynandi'' meaning "barefoot" in Guarani, the nickname of the Paraguay national team). Alongside him was the president of Paraguay,

Mario Abdo Benítez Mario Abdo Benítez (; born 10 November 1971) is a Paraguayan politician who has served as the president of Paraguay since 2018. He was previously a senator and President of the Senate. Early life and education Abdo Benítez was born in Asun ...

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 ...

president Alejandro Domínguez and APF president Robert Harrison, among others, who all made positive statements regarding the design and execution of the construction.

Facilities

The stadium satisfies FIFA requirements for beach soccer venues: the main stand, the only roofed section, includes four changing rooms for players, two changing rooms for referees, a medical area, a press room, offices, a multipurpose space, an

anti-doping In competitive sports, doping is the use of banned Performance-enhancing substance, athletic performance-enhancing drugs by athletic competitors as a way of cheating in sports. The term ''doping'' is widely used by organizations that regulate sp ...

room and

VIP A very important person or personage (VIP or V.I.P.) is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social status, influence or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War 2 by RAF pilots. Examples incl ...

area. There is also designated seating for VIPs, press and high profile/FIFA delegates. Public bathrooms are available in all stands. Regarding access, the main stand houses an elevator designed for wheelchairs, meanwhile another stand features a special access ramp and an area adapted to accommodate the disabled; consideration has also been given to ambulance and fire access. The stadium is equipped with TV platforms and

floodlights A floodlight is a broad-beamed, gas discharge lamp#High-intensity discharge lamps, high-intensity artificial light. They are often used to illuminate outdoor playing fields while an outdoor sports event is Night game, being held during low-li ...

operating at up to 2000

lux The lux (symbol: lx) is the unit of illuminance, or luminous flux per unit area, in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to one lumen per square metre. In photometry, this is used as a measure of the intensity, as perceived by the ...

. In total, the floor area of the stadium encompasses around 5000m², with the playing surface accounting for 1,880m². FIFA reports the final

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 ...

figure at 2,820. At the time of its construction, Ricardo Torres, president of the APF Beach Soccer Division claimed the stadium was the first and only beach soccer stadium of its kind in the world, being of concrete. It is a permanent stadium intended to leave a "legacy for Paraguayan and regional sports".

Sport events

Notes

References

External links

"Los Pynandi" World Cup Stadium
at FIFA.com {{s-end Football venues in Paraguay Sports venues completed in 2019 2019 establishments in Paraguay National stadiums