Estádio Dr. João Cláudio Vasconcelos Machado, usually known as Machadão, was 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

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian city of

Natal, Rio Grande do Norte Natal (), literally ''Christmas'' or ''natal'' ("birth") is the capital and largest city of the States of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Norte, located in Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern Brazil. According to Brazilian Institute of Geograp ...

. It was mostly used 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. Estádio Machadão was owned by the Natal City Hall. The stadium was named after João Cláudio Vasconcelos Machado, who was the president of the Rio Grande do Norte Football Federation and a sports broadcaster. Estádio Machadão (along with the Ginasio do Machadindo) was demolished at the end of 2011 to make room for the construction of the Arena das Dunas for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Capacity

The stadium had an initial maximum capacity of 55,000 people. This was reduced to 51,000 for security reasons, then to 42,000, when renovated in 2007.

History

In 1972, the works on Machadão were completed. The inaugural match was played on July 4 of that year, when ABC beat América de Natal 1–0. The first goal of the stadium was scored by ABC's Willian. The stadium's attendance record was 53,320, set on November 29, 1972 when Santos beat ABC 2–0. The stadium was renovated in 2007. The reinaugural match was played on May 13, 2007. Vasco beat América de Natal 1–0; the first goal was scored by André Dias. Upon the selection of Natal to be a host city of 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 ...

, the government decided that the construction of a new stadium was necessary. In 2011, the Machadão was demolished. A new stadium called Arena das Dunas was constructed. Demolição do Machadão está concluida
(retrieved on August 3, 2007)

References

Websites

Books

*''Enciclopédia do Futebol Brasileiro'', Volume 2 - Lance, Rio de Janeiro: Aretê Editorial S/A, 2001.

External links

Football venues in Rio Grande do Norte Sports venues in Rio Grande do Norte Multi-purpose stadiums in Brazil {{Brazil-sports-venue-stub