Estadio Azul
| Estadio Azul | |
|---|---|
| El Azul | |
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| Aerial view of the Estadio Azul (right) | |
| Earlier names | |
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Estadio Olímpico de la Ciudad de los Deportes (1947–1983) |
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| Data | |
| place | Calle Indiana 255 03810 Mexico City , Mexico
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| Coordinates | 19 ° 23 '0.2 " N , 99 ° 10' 41.6" W |
| owner | OCESA |
| operator | Cruz Azul |
| opening | October 6, 1946 |
| First game | January 5, 1947 CD Veracruz - Racing de Avellaneda 2-1 |
| Renovations | 1996, 2004, 2010 |
| surface | Natural grass |
| capacity | 35,161 seats |
| playing area | 108 × 68 m |
| Events | |
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The Estadio Azul ( German Blue Stadium ) is a football stadium in the Mexican capital Mexico City .
history
The facility was opened on October 6, 1946 and holds 35,161 spectators. On January 5, 1947, the first soccer game with the CD Veracruz against Racing de Avellaneda (2-1) from Argentina took place. The Estadio Azul is the third largest stadium in the city. It served as the home ground of the Cruz Azul football club from 1996 to 2018. Initially, the stadium was called Estadio Ciudad de los Deportes ( German Sports City Stadium ) and later Estadio Azulgrana ( German Blue-Red Stadium ) before it was given its current name in 1996. It is located in the Delegación Benito Juárez .
Although Mexico City with the introduction of professional football in Mexico in 1943/44 a total of five clubs ( América , Asturias , Atlante , España and Marte ) in the newly created professional league was represented, the capital possessed at that time still does not have a stadium that is constantly the growing public interest.
This unsatisfactory situation inspired the businessman Neguib Simón to build a stadium for around 40,000 spectators. This is how the Estadio Ciudad de los Deportes was created . But the clubs or the Liga Mayor , which regulates the clubs , as the forerunner of the Primera División was called until 1950, showed no interest in playing their home games there. Officially, this was justified with allegedly “poor visibility”, but it can be assumed that one was not willing to pay the required rent.
Due to the high costs of building the stadium on the one hand and the fact that the property was not rentable on the other hand, Simón found himself in a difficult financial situation. The pressure on him was intensified because a certain Maximino Ávila Camacho allegedly wanted to snatch the property. Therefore, the speculator Moisés Cosio had an easy time when he offered Simón to buy the stadium from him. Cosio also acquired the Parque Asturias , in which the capital's clubs had previously played their home games, and then withdrew it from football. In this way he could be sure that the Liga Mayor could no longer refuse the new building, for which he also increased the rent.
But Cosio had speculated. Because the Liga Mayor was not willing to pay the higher rent and unceremoniously suspended the championship. Finally, the President of Mexico intervened and ordered the reopening of the Parque Asturias and an appropriate lease for the Estadio Ciudad de los Deportes. A few years later, the Estadio Olímpico Universitario was opened for the 1968 Summer Olympics , which quickly developed into the new stage of capital city football.
After Club Atlante had chosen the stadium as its permanent home, the stadium name was changed to Azulgrana (blue-red stadium or - more precisely - blue-garnet-red stadium) according to the club's colors. A special feature of the stadium is that it is built in the form of a pit and the playing field is located below street level.
Although Mexico hosted a soccer World Cup twice ( 1970 and 1986 ), no World Cup match was played at the Estadio Azul.
At the beginning of the 1996/97 season, the system became the permanent home of the CD Cruz Azul and has been named after it since then. From the 2018/19 season onwards , Cruz Azul will temporarily move back to the Aztec stadium until a new stadium has been completed , as the lease for the Estadio Azul expires on May 31, 2018. The club played its games in the Estadio Azteca from 1971 to 1996. The plan is to build a new stadium with 40,000 to 50,000 seats.
On May 27, 2018, the last sporting event took place in the Estadio Azul, a run with 4,000 participants. The dismantling of all moving parts is to begin in June of that year. The demolition work is scheduled to begin the following month. It will take around three to five years for the Nuevo Estadio Azul to be completed. So far, the planning has been delayed. In September 2017, the Parque Ecológico Cuitláhuac in the Iztapalapa district was presented as the location for the new building. However, there was resistance from park users. The area of the new stadium will cover 50 hectares, which means about a third of the total park area.
At the end of July 2018, the plans for the demolition were put on hold and postponed until at least 2020. The final of the Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional de México ( German- Mexican American Football Professional League ), the Tazón México IV , is scheduled for April 28, 2019 at the Estadio Azul. In October 2018, representatives of the Benito Juárez district spoke out against the demolition and construction of a shopping center .
Web links
- cruzazulfc.com.mx: stadium on the club's website (Spanish)
- stadiumdb.com: Estadio Azul (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ stadiumdb.com: Estadio Azul (English)
- ↑ The information in paragraphs two to four is based on the information in the article: De la madera al concreto. In: Carlos Calderón Cardoso: Por amor a la camiseta (= Crónica del futbol mexicano. Vol. 2). 2. edición. Editorial Clío, Mexico 1998, ISBN 970-663-023-6 , p. 36f.
- ↑ stadiumdb.com: Mexico City: Cruz Azul to relocate to Azteca article from April 23, 2017 (English)
- ↑ stadiumdb.com: Mexico City: Cruz Azul aiming for 40,000–50,000 stadium article from January 12, 2017 (English)
- ↑ stadionwelt.de: The days of the Estadio Azul are numbered Article from May 29, 2018
- ↑ stadionwelt.de: Headwind for Cruz-Azul-Stadion Article from September 11th, 2017
- ↑ Posponen demolición del Estadio Azul. In: excelsior.com.mx. July 26, 2018, Retrieved November 15, 2018 (Spanish).
- ↑ Estadio Azul no será lido demo para construir centro comercial. In: mexico.as.com. As Mexico, October 10, 2018, accessed November 15, 2018 (Spanish).