Estadio Sergio León Chávez is a

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

in the city of

Irapuato Irapuato is a Mexican city and municipalities of Mexico, municipality located at the foot of the Arandas Hill (in Spanish Language, Spanish: ''Cerro de Arandas''), in the central region of the Mexican state, state of Guanajuato. It lies between the ...

. 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. The stadium holds 25,000 people. The stadium was built in 1967 and hosted three matches in group C of the FIFA World Cup in 1986.

History

Before the stadium was built Irapuato had the Estadio Revolución which was home to Irapuato FC. The stadium broke ground in 1967 and construction lasted two years. It was founded on 23 May 1969, simply as ''Estadio Irapuato'', gaining its actual name on 4 January 1990, in honour of the former club's president. in October 1968 even before the stadium was completed Irapuato FC invited

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

to play a friendly against them in preparation for the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

its first game played in the stadium, Spain would win the match 1–3. the first person to score in the new stadium was Juan Manuel Asensi from Spain. on 24 May 1970 the

Brazil national football team The Brazil national football team (), nicknamed ''Seleção Canarinho'' ("Canary Squad", after their bright yellow jersey), represents Brazil in men's international Association football, football and is administered by the Brazilian Football Co ...

played a friendly vs Irapuato FC in that match the Brazilians beat Irapuato 3–0 with goals from Rivellino, Roberto Miranda and Caju.

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

was present in that match. Two international football tournaments have played matches at the Sergio Leon Chavez: *

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

1983 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship was the fourth edition FIFA World Youth Championship tournament, hosted from 2 June to 19 June 1983 in seven venues in Mexico — Guadalajara, Irapuato, León, Mexico City, Monterrey, Puebla and Toluca — w ...

One Continental football tournament has played matches at the Sergio Leon Chavez: *

2024 CONCACAF U-20 Championship The 2024 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship was the 8th edition of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship (29th edition if all eras included), the men's under-20 international association football, football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was held in ...

2024 CONCACAF U-20 Championship

The Estadio Sergio León Chávez Hosts Group B & C during the Tournament and two Quarterfinal Matches.

1986 FIFA World Cup

The Estadio Morelos in

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid; Otomi language, Otomi: ) is a city and municipal seat of the municipalities of Mexico, municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. It is both th ...

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...

was originally going to be one of the venues for the World Cup. Still, problems in the building of the stadium led to the suspension of the work, The World Cup site was then transferred to the Estadio Sergio León Chávez. During the

Tournament

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

wanted to see whether Irapuato had what it took to host the FIFA World Cup, In 1985 the stadium was expanded and the capacity went from 16,300 to 33,000. From 1983 to 1985 several national teams played friendly matches in Irapuato. Also during the 1986 World Cup the

Soviets The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...

used Irapuato as their training facility.

1986 FIFA World Cup Group C

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1983 FIFA World Youth Championship

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Other Internationals Played In Irapuato

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Gallery

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Estadio Sergio Leon Chavez Football venues in Mexico Sports venues in Guanajuato Sports venues completed in 1969 Irapuato 1969 establishments in Mexico