Stadium
The Estadio Nacional (National Stadium), also known as the Coloso de José Díaz, is a 45,000-spectator stadium located in Lima that acts as the traditional home of the Peruvian team and the National Stadium of Peru. The stadium, a gift from England, opened on July 18, 1897, as the Estadio Guadalupe. The Peruvian Football League (which later became the Peruvian Football Federation) used it for the first official football tournaments, which were held in Lima. In 1921, as part of President Augusto B. Leguía's embellecimiento (beautification) program, the stadium was renovated and renamed the Estadio Nacional de Peru. During the regime of General Manuel Odría, the stadium was reconstructed and officially re-inaugurated on October 27, 1952. Under the government of Alan García, the stadium was renovated and re-inaugurated on July 24, 2011.
In preparation for the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship, artificial turf was installed as a means of improving the stadium's aesthetic appeal; the surface was left in place after the tournament. In 2005, the stadium was one of Peru's four "Star II" (the highest certification granted to artificial pitches) stadiums. Nonetheless, the surface received heavy criticisms from Peruvian First Division clubs, due to player injuries for which it was allegedly responsible. In 2011, the artificial ground was removed as part of stadium's the renovation process. Additional improvements include a modern exterior and interior multi-colored illumination system which complies with FIFA's norms for high-definition transmissions, two giant LED screens, individual spectator seats, and 375 private suites.
The national team occasionally selects other stadiums as its home venue. The thin atmosphere at the high-altitude Estadio Garcilaso de la Vega in Cusco and the balmy Amazonic climate of the Estadio Max Augustín in Iquitos provide strategic advantages against certain rivals. Other stadiums in Lima are sometimes used to bring the team closer to certain communities in the city, such as Alianza Lima's Estadio Alejandro Villanueva. During the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, Universitario's Estadio Monumental "U" was often selected for home matches due to controversy over the National Stadium's playing surface.
Read more about this topic: Peru National Football Team
Famous quotes containing the word stadium:
“It’s no accident that of all the monuments left of the Greco- Roman culture the biggest is the ballpark, the Colosseum, the Yankee Stadium of ancient times.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)
“The final upshot of thinking is the exercise of volition, and of this thought no longer forms a part; but belief is only a stadium of mental action, an effect upon our nature due to thought, which will influence future thinking.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
“In their eyes I have seen
the pin men of madness in marathon trim
race round the track of the stadium pupil.”
—Patricia K. Page (b. 1916)