Estadio Víctor Agustín Ugarte, also known by its old name Estadio Mario Mercado Vaca Guzmán, 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 ...

Potosí Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Potosí Department, Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the list of highest cities in the world, highest cities in the wo ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

. 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, on club level by

Real Potosí Real may refer to: Currencies * Argentine real * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Nature and science * Reality, the state of things as they exist, rath ...

and

Nacional Potosí Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, ...

. The stadium has a capacity of 32,000 people.

History

The stadium was originally called Estadio San Clemente from 1992 to 2000 but was renamed Mario Mercado Vaca Guzmán after some modifications on the structure, including new illumination towers, were made. In 1997, the stadium underwent its first expansion, completing the remaining 2 sections, general and north curve, raising its capacity to 13,000 spectators. In 2007 the club qualified for the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

and the

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

. In order to accommodate the spectators expected for these cups, the stadium underwent another expansion and remodeling in 2008. The capacity was increased to 32,000 spectators, doubling the size of the south bend, north bend and preferred sections, and almost tripling the general capacity. There was also an implementation of a roof around the whole stadium, and the name of the stadium was changed to Estadio

Víctor Agustín Ugarte Víctor is a Spanish masculine given name, equivalent to Victor (name), Victor in English and Vítor in Portuguese. Notable people with the given name include: *Víctor Barrio (1987–2016), Spanish ...

, in tribute to the former Bolivian footballer. Located at about 4,000

meter The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

s above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

, the stadium is one of the highest in the

world The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

. It has raised numerous

controversies Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin '' controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opp ...

in footballing clubs, as its significant

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

affects the absorption of

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

in the

human body The human body is the entire structure of a Human, human being. It is composed of many different types of Cell (biology), cells that together create Tissue (biology), tissues and subsequently Organ (biology), organs and then Organ system, org ...

References

Victor Agustin Ugarte Multi-purpose stadiums in Bolivia Buildings and structures in Potosí Department Buildings and structures in Potosí {{bolivia-sports-venue-stub