El Salvador National Football Team - Stadium

Stadium

El Salvador's current national stadium is the Estadio Cuscatlán which saw its first game in 1976. Before the opening of the Estadio Cuscatlán the national stadium was the Estadio Nacional de la Flor Blanca (now known as Estadio Jorge "Mágico" González).

During El Salvador's early run of existence, the team's national stadium was the Campo Marte, a 16 acre of land that housed a ministadium, (now known as Parque Infantil) between 1928 and 1934. Succeeding, El Salvador played at the Estadio Nacional de la Flor Blanca (now known as Estadio Jorge "Mágico" González) in San Salvador, El Salvador. It was first built in 19 April 1932 during the presidency of Maximiliano Hernández Martínez in preparation for the 1935 Central American and Caribbean Games. On 24 March 1935 El Salvador played its first game at the Flor Blanca against Cuba and won 4–1. El Salvador played at this stadium for the 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification, and accomplished to qualify for the 1970 FIFA World Cup. A one-off hame was played at the stadium to commemorate a major refurbishment, it was the last time El Salvador played a game in the stadium, on 15 November 2000, against Jamaica in the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification process.

In 1969, EDESSA (Estadios Deportivos de El Salvador Sociedad Anonima) first proposed the idea of a new national stadium. This came to fruition when the construction of the new national stadium, the Estadio Cuscatlán, began on March 24, 1971, with then-president of El Salvador, General Fidel Sánchez Hernández, breaking ground. There were options for the name such of that of San Salvador, Fraternidad, and Cuscatlán but, of course, was named Cuscatlán. After 5 years of construction, the stadium was opened and held its very first game on July 24, 1976, in a friendly match. The game saw German Bundesliga champions Borussia Mönchengladbach play the El Salvador national football team, with the match ending in a 2–0 victory to the German side. The German squad featured 1974 FIFA World Cup champions, such as Berti Vogts, Rainer Bonhof, Jupp Heynckes, Wolfgang Kleff and Jupp Heynckes. Also Allan Simonsen, who eventually won the 1977 Ballon d'Or and later form part of FC Barcelona. El Salvador aligned itself with Tomás Pineda (Mauricio "Tarzán" Alvarenga), Guillermo "Billy" Rodríguez Bou, Ramón Fagoaga, Humberto "Imacasa" Recinos, Eduardo "Conejo" Valdés, Víctor "Pato" Valencia, Warner Solís, Félix "Garrobita" Pineda (César "Piscucha" Acevedo), Luis "Pelé" Ramírez Zapata (Abraham Coreas) & Ismael "Cisco" Díaz (David Cabrera). While Borussia played with Wolfgang Kneib, Hans-Jürgen Wittkamp, Berti Vogts, Horst Wohlers, Dietmar Danner, Hans Klinkhammer, Carsten Nielsen, Uli Stielike, Jupp Heynckes and Allan Simonsen. Since that match, El Salvador has used the stadium for almost every major home game, and it is the official home stadium of the El Salvador national football team and the Salvadoran club Alianza FC. On May 25, 1978, EDESSA agreed to sign a 99-year lease of the stadium to CLIMA (Asociación de Clubes de Liga Mayor A) to operate and control which events are held there.

The Estadio Cuscatlán also features the following specifications:

• A 45,925 capacity.
• 15 entrances to the stadium.
• 10 ticket offices available for ticket sales.
• A irrigation system and French drain.
• 4 fully equipped dressing rooms and a gymnasium.
• A large 50 m2 LCD screen of high definition.
• 6 robotic cameras strategically placed at the stadium for the transmission on the large screen.
• Internal sound system with Dolby Digital Surround.
• 16 booths for radio and television transmission.
• 3 electronic lighting towers, which have their north and south towers with 22 beacons and in the center with 24 beacons and 10 halogen lamps each.
• Parking for 8,500 cars.