Aztec Stadium

Estadio Azteca
El Coloso de Santa Úrsula
The Aztec Stadium on September 25, 2011 before the game Club América against the Xolos de Tijuana .
Previous names
Estadio Guillermo Cañedo (1997-2007)
Data
place	Calzada de Tlalpan No. 3465 Coyoacan , Mexico City , Mexico
Coordinates	19 ° 18 '10.7 "  N , 99 ° 9' 1.8"  W Coordinates: 19 ° 18 '10.7 "  N , 99 ° 9' 1.8"  W.
owner	Televisa Group
start of building	August 1962
opening	May 29, 1966
Renovations	1986, 1999, 2001, 2006, 2013, 2016–2019
surface	Natural grass
architect	Pedro Ramírez Vázquez Rafael Mijares Alcérreca
capacity	81,070 seats
playing area	105 m × 68 m
Societies)
Club América (since 1966) Club Necaxa (1966-1970, 1982-2003) CF Atlante (1966–1982, 1996–2001, 2004–2007) UNAM Pumas (1967-1969) Atlético Español (1970–1982) CD Cruz Azul (1971–1996, from 2018)
Events
Games of the Mexican national football team (since 1966) 1968 Summer Olympics (football tournament) Football World Cup 1970 Pan American Games 1975 CONCACAF Nations Cup 1977 Junior World Cup 1983 Soccer World Cup 1986 World Cup boxing match Julio César Chavez versus Greg Haugen 1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup 1993 Confederations Cup 1999 CONCACAF Gold Cup 2003 U-17 World Cup 2011 Games of the Copa Libertadores Games of the Copa Sudamericana Matches of the CONCACAF Champions League Games of the Liga MX Games of the Copa MX Play in the Mexican Super Cup Football World Cup qualification matches Games of the National Football League (NFL) Address by Pope John Paul II in 1999 Religious events Concerts

The Aztec Stadium ( Spanish Estadio Azteca ) is a football stadium in the Coyoacán district of the Mexican capital Mexico City . The venue, which opened on May 29, 1966, currently offers 81,070 covered seats. The stadium has been home to the Club América football club since it opened . The CD Cruz Azul has been using the system again since 2018. It is one of the world's largest stadiums for football matches. The sports facility was the only one to host the opening and final of the soccer World Cup twice (1970 with a maximum of 107,494 spectators at the time and in 1986 with 114,464 seats) and is the most frequent venue for World Cup games with 19 games. Michael Jackson filled it with 100,000 spectators five times in a row during concert appearances in 1993.

history

1968 Summer Olympics

In 1968, the Summer Olympics soccer tournament was held at the Estadio Azteca, while most of the competitions were held at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario , also in Mexico City.

Football World Cup 1970

Plaque commemorating the game of the century in front of the Aztec Stadium

In 1970 Mexico hosted the soccer world championship , next to the Olympic Games the biggest sporting event in the world. Five stadiums were designated for the World Cup, including the Aztec Stadium, which was the second largest stadium in the world at the time after the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro with a seating capacity of 107,000 . In the preliminary round, the games Mexico against the Soviet Union (0: 0), Belgium against El Salvador (3: 0), Soviet Union against Belgium (4: 1), Mexico against El Salvador (4: 0), the Soviet Union against El Salvador ( 2-0) and Mexico against Belgium (1-0) in the Aztec Stadium. In the quarter-finals, the Estadio Azteca hosted the encounter between the Soviet Union and Uruguay , which Uruguay won 1-0 in extra time.

The semi-finals between Italy and Germany also took place in the Aztec Stadium. 107,000 spectators saw one of the biggest games in the history of the football World Cup. Italy took the lead after seven minutes through Roberto Boninsegna and wanted to defend their lead using the tried and tested catenaccio tactic, but the Germans struck England in the last minute, as they had in the final four years earlier. Karl-Heinz Schnellinger , active as a club player at AC Milan , scored the 1-1 after the German team had climbed the Italian goal for 80 minutes and missed numerous great chances. An extension had to bring the decision. The later top scorer of this World Cup, Gerd Müller , put Germany in the lead in the 95th minute, but Tarcisio Burgnich was able to equalize just four minutes later. In the 104th minute, Luigi Riva gave the Italians a 3-2 lead, which was destroyed by another goal from Müller in the 110th minute. Gianni Rivera ended this incredible extra time with a 4: 3 in the 111th minute. That put Italy in the final against Brazil , but what people remember most was the semi-final between Italy and Germany. Today it is known as the “ Century Game ”, although the German press had already described the quarter-finals against old rivals England, won 3-2 after extra time after 0-2 deficit, as the game of the century.

The final between Brazil and Italy turned out to be a one-sided game from the start. The Italians, who were still tired from the difficult semi-final match against Germany, fell behind after 19 minutes with a goal from Pelé . But they got up and scored the 1-1 with Boninsegna, who had already scored in the semifinals. So it was at the break, before the South Americans really turned up in the second half. First Gérson in the 65th minute, then Jairzinho after 70 minutes and captain Carlos Alberto Torres four minutes before the end made the 4-1 final score perfect. Brazil were world champions for the third time, Italy second. In the game for 3rd place the day before, also in Azteca, Germany, Uruguay had defeated 1-0.

Soccer World Cup 1986

At the place where the German national team had failed to Italy 16 years earlier , the 1986 World Cup should, despite all efforts, come to an end in the Aztec Stadium. Although Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Rudi Völler were able to compensate for a 2-0 deficit in the final phase of the final against Argentina, the German team conceded the goal to make the final score 2-3 in the 84th minute.

The English have no less bad memories of the Mexican venue where they ended in the quarter-finals after Diego Maradona scored an irregular goal with the hand of God . That Skandaltor to 1: 0 (Result 2: 1) the English have never forgiven the former football star. Diego Maradona's second goal in that game was later named Goal of the Century by FIFA .

World Cup matches in the Aztec Stadium
No.	date	Result	Team 1	Team 2	Occasion / spectator	Remarks
1	May 31, 1970	0-0	Mexico	Soviet Union	Opening game 107.160	Highest number of spectators at an opening game
2	03rd June 1970	3-0	Belgium	El Salvador	Group game 92.205
3	0June 6, 1970	4: 1	Soviet Union	Belgium	Group game 95.261
4th	0June 7, 1970	4-0	Mexico	El Salvador	Group game 103.058
5	June 10, 1970	2-0	Soviet Union	El Salvador	Group game 89,979
6th	June 11, 1970	1-0	Mexico	Belgium	Group game 108.192
7th	June 14, 1970	0: 1 a.d.	Soviet Union	Uruguay	Quarterfinals 26,085
8th	17th June 1970	4: 3 a.d.	Italy	BR Germany	Semi-finals 102,444	Game of the century
9	June 20, 1970	0: 1	Uruguay	BR Germany	Game for 3rd place 104,403	Highest number of spectators in a game for third place
10	June 21, 1970	4: 1	Brazil	Italy	Final 107,412	Brazil becomes world champion for the third time
11	May 31, 1986	1: 1	Bulgaria	Italy	Opening game 96,000
12th	0June 3, 1986	1: 2	Belgium	Mexico	Group game 110,000
13th	0June 7, 1986	1: 1	Mexico	Paraguay	Group game 114,600	Highest number of spectators in a group game
14th	June 11, 1986	0: 1	Iraq	Mexico	Group game 103,763
15th	June 15, 1986	2-0	Mexico	Bulgaria	Round of 16 114,580	Highest number of spectators in a round of 16
16	June 18, 1986	3-0	England	Paraguay	Round of 16 98,728
17th	June 22, 1986	2: 1	Argentina	England	Quarterfinals 114,580	Hand of God , Highest number of spectators at a quarter-finals
18th	June 25, 1986	2-0	Argentina	Belgium	Semi-finals 114,500	Highest number of spectators in a semi-final
19th	June 29, 1986	3: 2	Argentina	BR Germany	Final 114,600	Argentina becomes world champion for the second time, highest number of spectators at a final

A total of 1,917,550 spectators in the Aztec Stadium saw the 19 games (100,924 on average per game). In no World Cup stadium were there more spectators and in none a higher average.

Todays use

Exterior view of the stadium (admission control)

Today the stadium is mainly used by Club América, whose supporters fill the stadium with an average of around 65,000 people during the championship games. On July 27, 2003, the final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup (the North and Central American championship, comparable to the European Football Championship, etc.) took place in the Aztec Stadium , which the Mexicans won 1-0 against Brazil in extra time.

Occasionally the stadium is used for other mass events such as religious gatherings. On January 25, 1999, Pope John Paul II was visiting the Aztec Stadium during a pastoral trip to America and gave a speech. In the same year, more than 100,000 people gathered there for a solemn hour of prayer to honor Jesus . Concerts like those of the Mexican rock singer Benjamin Anaya (2003), on the other hand, are rather rare at this location. In 2004 the stadium was the setting for the film Matando Cabos .

On October 2, 2005, the first regular game of the National Football League (NFL) outside the United States took place in the Aztec Stadium with the American football game between the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers . The game called Fútbol Americano ended with 31:14 for the Cardinals , who moved a home game. The crowd of 103,467 is the largest crowd at a season game of the NFL outside of the United States to date. A game of the preseason of the NFL in 1994 between the Houston Oilers and the Dallas Cowboys (6-0) even gathered 112,376 spectators in the wide circle. On February 20, 1993, the WBO semi-welterweight World Cup boxing match between the Mexican Julio César Chavez and the American Greg Haugen attracted about 130,000 spectators to the football arena.

The Aztec Stadium underwent extensive renovations from 2016. It was the largest construction work since the stadium was roofed in 1967. The first step in the project was to replace the seating in the stands, which initially reduced the available space from 105,000 to 95,500. Further modifications to the grandstands then reduced the capacity to around 87,000.

From the beginning of February 2016, the lower standing section of the east stand became a large hospitality area. The second phase began at the end of March 2016 when the western upper tier was converted into a press area in accordance with the requirements of FIFA and the NFL . The stadium also received private boxes .

To the west of the stadium, construction began on a complex called Foro Azteca with 130,000 square meters of retail space , an office building of 20,000 square meters and two hotels . The creation of 2,500 additional parking spaces is also planned. The shopping center next to the stadium should be completed by 2019 ..

gallery

• 

  The Aztec Stadium on the opening day

• 

  Photo taken in 1986

• 

  Exterior view from 2017

and display information about the image

Panorama of the Aztec Stadium, home of Club América . Here the game Club América against UAG Tecos (Guadalajara). April 15th, Clausura 2007

See also

• List of the largest football stadiums in the world
• List of the largest stadiums in the world

Web links

Commons : Aztec Stadium  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• estadioazteca.com.mx: Official website (Spanish (
• Aztec Stadium in the Liga MX database (Spanish)
• europlan-online.de: Estadio Azteca - Coyoacán, Ciudad de México (DF)
• stadionwelt.de: picture gallery
• stadiumdb.com: Estadio Azteca (Coloso de Santa Ursula) (English)
• stadiumguide.com: Estadio Azteca (English)
• Estadio Azteca ( Memento from July 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
• groundhopping.de: Visitor report from 2016

Individual evidence

1. ^ Estadio Azteca. In: ligamx.net. Liga MX , accessed May 29, 2021 (Spanish). 
2. ↑ The game of the final round at the 1950 World Cup, which was decisive for the award of the World Cup title, was watched by 173,850 spectators, according to FIFA. It wasn't a final in the real sense of the word because it was played in groups.
3. ^ Pastoral trip to America - Address by John Paul II - Aztec Stadium - Monday, January 25, 1999. In: vatican.va. Vatican , January 25, 1999, accessed May 29, 2021 . 
4. ^ Match report Arizona Cardinals versus San Francisco 49ers. In: usatoday30.usatoday.com. USA Today , March 10, 2005, accessed May 29, 2021 . 
5. ^ Mexico gets ready for football, not futbol. In: usatoday30.usatoday.com. USA Today , September 29, 2005, accessed May 29, 2021 . 
6. ↑ Earl Gustkey: 130,000 See Chavez Easily Beat Haugen: Boxing: Nelson narrowly defeats Sylmar's gift Ruelas. Norris and Nunn retain titles with easier victories. In: latimes.com. Los Angeles Times , February 21, 1993, accessed May 29, 2021 . 
7. ^ Mexico: Azteca to lose capacity again. In: stadiumdb.com. April 4, 2016, accessed May 29, 2021 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b} Another downsizing in the Estadio Azteca ( Memento from April 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
9. ^ Mexico: Azteca up for revamp, capacity falls. In: stadiumdb.com. February 22, 2015, accessed May 29, 2021 . 
10. ↑ Fewer seats in the Estadio Azteca ( Memento from February 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive )