The Estadio José María Minella is 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 ...

in the city of

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a sh ...

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 List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

. It is owned and administrated by the Municipality of General Pueyrredón. Inaugurated for the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by ...

hosted by Argentina, the stadium is currently used by local clubs Alvarado and Aldosivi to play their home matches. The stadium is named after renowned football player and manager José María Minella, a native of Mar del Plata and regarded as one of the most notable footballers of that city.

History

Argentina was chosen as the host 1978 World Cup of the nation by

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 ...

in London, England on 6 July 1966, and Mar del Plata, as one of the most touristic cities in the country, was selected as a venue. The stadium has the distinction of being the southernmost stadium to host a World Cup match. The organizing committee, under supervision of the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the ...

that ruled Argentina since 1976, decided to build a new stadium on the same spot as 40 years earlier it had been the Mar del Plata hippodrome. The construction began in 1975 and the stadium was opened on May 21, 1978 with a friendly match between a team formed by players from

and another one with players from Tandil. The sports journalist Mario Trucco proposed the name to honour José María Minella, a renowned former

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

from Mar del Plata, who played during the 1930s and 1940s for River Plate and the

Argentina national football team The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in men's international football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, the governing body for football in Argentina. Nicknamed ''La Albiceleste'' ('The White and ...

, and later manager of River Plate team from 1945 to 1959 in what became one of the team's most successful eras. During the 1978 World Cup Mar del Plata hosted six Fifa World Cup matches, three Group 1 and three Group 3 matches. As the city of Mar del Plata is a very important tourist destination and the biggest seaside beach resort in Argentina, since its construction this stadium has been the main host of the many annual Summer Tournaments. Prior to the construction of Minella stadium, the main venue of the city was General San Martín Stadium, with capacity for 15,000 spectators. That venue used to host matches of local teams San Lorenzo, Kimberley and Aldosivi. On February 24, 1993, the stadium played host to the second, and final, Intercontinental Cup for Nations (known as the Artemio Franchi Trophy) match between the then-defending South American football champions,

, and reigning European champions,

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. The match ended 1–1 after extra time, but Argentina went on to win 5–4 on

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

. From March 12 to March 26, 1995 Mar del Plata hosted the 12th Pan American Games, and the José María Minella was venue for the opening and closing ceremonies, and the football tournament.Se cumplen 25 años de los Juegos Panamericanos Mar del Plata 1995
on Noticias MDQ, 26 Mar 2020 Since

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, club Aldosivi plays in Primera División and uses this stadium for its home matches, along with Alvarado, currently playing in Torneo Federal A.

Facilities

The José María Minella offers parking lots for 250 cars, a 590 m2 lounge and 245 m2 VIP area, conference room and two 550 m2 gyms. It is part of the "

Teodoro Bronzini Teodoro Bronzini (October 10, 1888 – August 20, 1981) was an Argentine politician, affiliated with the Socialist Party, who served as Mayor of Mar del Plata for four periods, from the 1920s to the 1960s. He developed a public and private ...

" Municipal Sports Park, a 35 hectares area with several sport venues, including the

Polideportivo Islas Malvinas The Polideportivo Islas Malvinas is an indoor arena located in Mar del Plata, Argentina which was built for the XII Pan American Games in 1995. It is qualified to host such sports as basketball, handball, volleyball and tennis, as well as to accom ...

, the Julio Polet Municipal Velodrome, the Pan American Field Hockey Stadium, the " Alberto Zorrilla" Natatorium, the "Justo Roman" Athletic stadium and the

Patinódromo Municipal The Patinódromo Municipal Adalberto Lugea is an outdoor roller rink and patinodrome in Mar del Plata, Argentina. It is mostly used for inline speed skating competitions but has also hosted tennis tournaments and concerts. History Roller sports ...

Sporting Events

The stadium was built for the

and during June 1978 it hosted six matches, three Group 1 matches and three Group 3 matches.

1978 FIFA World Cup

2001 FIFA U-20 World Cup

The stadium hosted all the matches of Group F

Argentina national football team matches

Rugby union

The stadium has hosted several rugby union matches, such as follows: The stadium was also the main venue of the 2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens

Other sporting events hosted

* Torneos de Verano (1979–2019) *

1995 Pan American Games File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake stri ...

1999 South American U-20 Championship The 1999 South American Youth Championship (Sudamericana sub-20) is a football competition contested by all ten U-20 national football teams of CONMEBOL. The tournament was held in Argentina between January 5 and January 25, 1999, the 23rd time th ...

2006 South American Women's Football Championship The 2006 South American Women's Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol Femenino 2006'') was the fifth staging of the South American Women's Football Championship (now known as ''Copa América Femenina'') and determined the CO ...

Music concerts

Some of the artists that have played at this stadium are Almendra (1980),

Charly García Charly García (born Carlos Alberto García, October 23, 1951) is an Argentine singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. He formed and headlined two of the most popular bands in Argentina's rock history: Sui Generis in the 1970s and Se ...

(1984),

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

( 1981),

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 ...

(

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

Soda Stereo Soda Stereo is an Argentine rock band formed in Buenos Aires in 1982 by Gustavo Cerati (lead vocals, guitar), Héctor "Zeta" Bosio (bass) and Carlos Alberto Ficicchia "Charly Alberti" (drums). As the first Hispanic group to achieve mainstream ...

(1992),

Luis Miguel Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri (born 19 April 1970) is a Puerto Rican-born Mexican singer, often referred to as ''El Sol de México'' (The Sun of Mexico), which is the nickname his mother gave him as a child—"mi sol". Luis Miguel has sung in mu ...

(

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

La Renga La Renga is a hard rock Argentine band, formed in 1988. They had moderate success with the albums '' A Dónde Me Lleva La Vida'' and '' Bailando en una pata'', between 1993 and 1995, but it was the release of Despedazado por Mil Partes, in 1996 ...

(2006),

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger Taylor the following year the band we ...

(2007), Callejeros (2010),

Joaquín Sabina Joaquín Ramón Martínez Sabina (born 12 February 1949) is a Spanish musician, singer, composer, and poet. His songs usually treat about love, heartbreaks and society with a large usage of literary figures similarly to the baroque-literature st ...

(2010) and

Ricardo Arjona Edgar Ricardo Arjona Algadeoro (born 19 January 1964), known as Ricardo Arjona (), is a Guatemalan singer-songwriter. Arjona is one of the most successful and best-selling Latin American artists of all time, with more than 80 million records so ...

(2015).

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1978 FIFA World Cup stadiums Football venues in Argentina Rugby union stadiums in Argentina Estadio Jose Maria Minella Sports venues completed in 1978 Estadio Jose Maria Minella Sports venues in Buenos Aires Province Pan American Games opening ceremony stadiums Estadio Jose Maria Minella Venues of the 1995 Pan American Games Sport in Mar del Plata 1978 establishments in Argentina World Rugby Sevens Series venues