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The José Amalfitani Stadium (also known as El Fortín de Liniers or Estadio Vélez Sarsfield) is a
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 ...
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 ...
located in the Liniers neighborhood of
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
,
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
, near Liniers railway station. The venue is the home of the
Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...
club Vélez Sarsfield. The stadium was named after José Amalfitani, who was president of Vélez Sarsfield for 30 years. The original, temporary stadium was built between 1941 and 1943 in wood, and the current facility was built in cement between 1947 and 1951. It was renovated and enlarged 26 years later in preparation for the
1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...
. The stadium has a capacity of 49,540 spectators, although it does not provide seating for all of them like most Argentine stadia. The Estadio José Amalfitani is also the
national stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football ...
for the
Argentina national rugby union team The Argentina national rugby union team ( Spanish: ''Selección de rugby de Argentina'') represents Argentina in men's international competitions, The Argentine Rugby Union (). Officially nicknamed ''Los Pumas'', they play in sky blue and white ...
(''Los Pumas''). Although the team plays test matches throughout the country, their highest-profile tests (such as against the New Zealand All Blacks) are usually held here. The Jaguares, a team that participated in the
Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...
league from 2016 to 2020, played its home games at the stadium.


History


Predecessors

During its first years of existence, Vélez Sarsfield football team played its games in vacant lands of the neighborhood, with removable goal posts. In 1913 the
Argentine Football Association The Argentine Football Association (, ; AFA) is the governing body of football in Argentina based in Buenos Aires. It organises the main divisions of Argentine football league system, Argentine league system (from Argentine Primera División, Pri ...
ordered the club to host its home games at a bigger stadium so the club moved to the Juan Martín Figallo's (a neighbor) country house on Rodó and Escalada streets. Figallo rented the club part of his land. In 1914, the club called an assembly to discuss the possibility to rent lands on better places. The club got a land behind Villa Luro station, between Cortina and Bacacay streets. But the definitive stadium would be built in 1922, when the club rented a land to López Bancalari Brothers on Guardia Nacional street. The club started to build a grandstand while the team continued playing in Villa Luro and other fields, until the construction finished. Works were ready in 1924, when the club inaugurated its first stadium with a grandstand, lockers, coffee shop, personnel room and secretary. The stadium was officially opened in a friendly match v River Plate. New grandstands were built between 1926 and 1927, completing the four sides of the stadium and therefore increasing its capacity. In 1935, the first match with artificial lighting was played at Vélez Sarsfield venue. The local team defeated Platense 4–2. The end of an era came in 1940 when the club was intimated to leave the lands where the stadium was located due to the rental contract had expired.


Current venue

After suffering
relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...
from the
Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...
in 1940, Vélez was sacked from the Villa Luro ground they were renting. Three years later, in 1941, the club obtained the terrain of the current stadium, property of the
Buenos Aires Western Railway The Buenos Aires Western Railway (BAWR; Spanish: Ferrocarril Oeste de Buenos Aires), inaugurated in the city of Buenos Aires on 29 August 1857, was the first railway built in Argentina and the start of the extensive rail network that was devel ...
. The ground was a swamp of the Maldonado Stream, where construction was difficult. However, the club's president José Amalfitani led the construction of the first stadium at the site, which was inaugurated on April 11, 1943. The new stadium used the same wood stands from the old Villa Luro stadium, and was inaugurated in a 2–2 draw with River Plate. Vélez striker Juan José Ferraro scored the first goal in the stadium's history (the others were scored by Ángel Fernández for Vélez and Adolfo Pedernera twice for River). The current stadium was inaugurated on April 22, 1951. The stadium was renamed in honor of José Amalfitani on December 7, 1968. The following year, a modern lighting system by
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...
was installed, and the first of the upper stand sections was completed. José Amalfitani Stadium was the first venue in South America with a
lighting Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight. ...
system, inaugurated in 1928. After the stadium was inaugurated, one of the members of Vélez Sarsfield executive committee, Raùl D'Onofrio (father of then president of River Plate Rodolfo D'Onofrio), came up with the idea of bring the lighting system used in baseball stadiums in the US that had impressed him. Nevertheless, the club later would sign an agreement with Germany-based company
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...
to be is supplier.De Liniers a Salta, de Pelé a Maradona
by Facundo Soukoyan on Página/12 – 2 Jan 2022
José Amalfitani Stadium inaugurated its lighting system in 1969 in a match vs Brazilian
Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube () is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a ''bairro'' in the city of Santos, São Paulo, Santos. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista, the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo's premier State football lea ...
Vélez Sarsfield drew an average home attendance of 41,646 in the 2024 Argentine Primera División.


Events hosted


Football


1978 FIFA World Cup

The stadium was refurbished for the
1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...
with the completion of press boxes and another section of upper stands, and hosted three games in the group stages.


Argentina friendly matches


Rugby union

The José Amalfitani Stadium is the current home ground for the Jaguares, an Argentine
Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...
franchise. The ground has also hosted the Argentina national team (''Los Pumas'') since 1986, when the side left to play at Ferro Carril Oeste Stadium (their home venue by then) searching for higher capacity stadiums. When
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
played Argentina in November
2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
at Vélez Sarsfield, they faced a strong ''Pumas'' side, which took a 20–16 lead into the half-time break, before fading in the second half and losing 34–23. In the 2006 mid-year tests, the second test against
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
, saw the ''Pumas'' win 45–27, Argentina's largest win ever over Wales. The national squad next hosted the world's top team, the
All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...
. The New Zealanders survived an Argentine assault in the final minutes to hang on to win 25–19 and to deny Argentina a huge upset. ''Los Pumas'' began their final preparation for the 2007 World Cup with a summer two-test series against visiting
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, including a 16–0 win at Vélez Sarsfield.


Argentina test matches


Club matches


Concerts

The stadium has hosted many international concerts since the 1980s. English
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...
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was the first to perform at Vélez Sarsfield –giving three concerts in February 1981– as part of The Game Tour to support their successful homonymous album. The visit of the band (which was at the peak of their career by then) had huge repercussions in Argentina, being widely covered by the media, and famous personalities –such as
Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...
– attending to their concerts.La historia detrás de la foto
by Pablo Lisotto, ''La Nación'', 30 Oct 2018
José Amalfitani Stadium hosts events of up to 50,000 spectators.


See also

* List of football stadiums in Argentina *
List of association football stadiums by capacity The following is a list of association football, football stadiums. They are ordered by their seating capacity, that is the maximum number of spectators that the stadium can accommodate in seated areas. Football stadiums with a capacity of 40,00 ...
*
Lists of stadiums The following are lists of stadiums throughout the world. Note that horse racing and motorsport venues are not included at some pages, because those are not stadiums but sports venues. Combined lists *List of stadiums by capacity * List of c ...


Notes


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jose Amalfitani Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield Sports venues completed in 1951 Football venues in Buenos Aires Argentina national rugby union team Rugby union stadiums in Argentina Music venues in Argentina