Estádio Major Antônio Couto Pereira, often shortened to Couto Pereira, is the home of
Coritiba Foot Ball Club
Coritiba Foot Ball Club, commonly known as Coritiba and colloquially referred to as "Coxa-Branca" or "Coxa", is a Brazilian football club from Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest ...
, located in
Curitiba
Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in Brazil's South Region. The Curitiba Metropolitan area c ...
,
Paraná state,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. Its formal name honors Major Antônio Couto Pereira, who was Coritiba's president in 1926, 1927, and between 1930 and 1933. He started the stadium construction.
History

In 1927, Major Antônio Couto Pereira, the club's president at that time, acquired a 36,300 m² area, paying for it a hundred
contos de réis
The ''real'' (, meaning "royal", plural: ''réis'' or rchaic''reais'') was the unit of currency of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire from around 1430 until 1911. It replaced the '' dinheiro'' at the rate of 1 real = 840 dinheiros and was itself ...
. Between the groundplot purchase, which should also accommodate the club's headquarters at the Alto da Glória neighborhood, and the stadium construction, almost five years passed.
The stadium was originally named after
Belfort Duarte,. The stadium was named after Belfort Duarte because the Coritiba counselors did not come to an agreement about the stadium name. The name Belfort Duarte was chosen by president Couto Pereira as a provisory name, which lasted 45 years.
The stadium
floodlights were inaugurated in 1942, when Coritiba beat
Avaí 4-2.
On February 28, 1977, a General Assembly renamed the stadium to Major Antônio Couto Pereira, after the club's former president died.
In 1988 a ditch around the pitch was built, to prevent supporters from entering the field, and to give a more modern look to the stadium. At the same time the cabins were built, which reduced the stadium capacity, but also made it more comfortable.
The inaugural match was played on November 20, 1932, when Coritiba beat
América 4-2. The first goal of the stadium was scored by Coritiba's Gildo.
The stadium's attendance record in a football match currently stands at 80,000 set on August 18, 1998 when Coritiba beat
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
2-1.
The stadium's general attendance record was set on August 5, 1980, when 70,000 people came to see
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
.
References
External links
Templos do FutebolCoritiba Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Estadio Couto Pereira
Sport in Curitiba
Couto Pereira Couto may refer to:
Surname
Couto is a common surname in the Galician language, Galician and Portuguese language, namely in Portugal, Galicia (Spain), Galicia and Brazil. Its meaning is game reservation or feudal land. Sometimes a diminutive form ...
Sports venues in Paraná (state)
Coritiba Foot Ball Club