Estadio Municipal Pérez Zeledón is a multi-use

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 completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

in Pérez Zeledón,

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

. It is currently used mostly for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

matches and is the home stadium of the Costa Rican FPD team

Municipal Pérez Zeledón A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

History

It was inaugurated in 1953 as Estadio Municipal Otto Ureña Fallas because of the former Costa Rican player and then owner of the A.D. Municipal Pérez Zeledón who used to play for the now defunct A.D. Municipal Generaleña. Then in 1991 with the ascension of A.D. Municipal Pérez Zeledón to the first division, it became their venue for home games, since there was a conflict between the two teams of the area because back then there can only be one team per area, they merge into one and the stadium became their home venue

Controversy

In 2014, the Municipality of Pérez Zeledón intended the stadium as "Estadio Municipal Keylor Navas Gamboa", named after Costa Rican and Real Madrid's, goalkeeper

Keylor Navas Keilor Antonio "Keylor" Navas Gamboa (; born 15 December 1986) is a Costa Rican professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Argentine Primera División club Newell's Old Boys and the Costa Rica national team. He is regarded as one o ...

, due to his outstanding performance with the

Costa Rica national football team The Costa Rica national football team () represents Costa Rica in men's international Association football, football. The national team is administered by the Costa Rican Football Federation, Federación Costarricense de Fútbol (), the governi ...

at the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

who get all the way over to the quarter-finals just by losing to Netherlands in a penalty shootout. However, the renaming procedure has been deemed as illegal by the Costa Rican National Committee of Nomenclature, arguing that a stadium can only be named after somebody just as a posthumous tribute. This law enforcement was controversial since many of the stadiums currently active for many of the First Division team are named in honor of former domestic football players who aren't posthumous honors, like the "Cuty" Monge Stadium in Desamparados or the "Colleya" Fonseca in Guadalupe or the Allen Riggioni in Alajuela.

References

Otto Urena Buildings and structures in San José Province A.D. Municipal Pérez Zeledón {{CostaRica-struct-stub