Estadio Juan Carmelo Zerillo
| Estadio Juan Carmelo Zerillo El Bosque |
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| Entrance to the Estadio Juan Carmelo Zerillo | |
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| place |
 La Plata , Argentina
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| Coordinates | 34 ° 54 '39.5 " S , 57 ° 55' 57.3" W |
| owner | Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata |
| opening | April 26, 1924 |
| Renovations | 2006-2008 |
| surface | Natural grass |
| architect | Leonardo Tomas Cole |
| capacity | 24,544 |
| playing area | 118 × 74 |
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The Estadio Juan Carmelo Zerillo is a football stadium in the Argentine city of La Plata . It has space for 24,544 spectators and is the home of the Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata association .
history
The Estadio Juan Carmelo Zerillo in La Plata , a city with approximately 740,000 inhabitants in eastern Argentina and also the capital of the province of Buenos Aires , was built between 1923 and 1924 and opened on April 26 of the latter year. The opening coincided exactly with the fortieth birthday of the city of La Plata. The future user association of the arena, the football club Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata , and the Uruguayan top club Club Atlético Peñarol met for the first game in the new stadium six months later, on November 19, 1924 .
Since 1924, the Estadio Juan Carmelo Zerillo has served Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata as the venue for home football matches. The club has an eventful past, even if the title of Argentine football champion has never been achieved. Gimnasia was close to winning the championship a few times, but in the end, other teams had to be allowed to go first. Only before the introduction of the Primera División as the uniform first football league in Argentina did the club once achieve the big hit. The championship was won in 1929 under the presidency of Juan Carmelo Zerillo. Because of this success, the stadium of Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata has been named after its most successful president (1882–1950) since his death. It is also known under the name El Bosque (in German: the forest), based on the neighboring city park of the same name, which embeds the stadium in a green environment.
When Gimnasia y Esgrima and Estudiantes de La Plata faced each other as part of the Primera División in 1959 in the Estadio Juan Carmelo Zerillo, a grandstand in the stadium collapsed. The result was dozens of injuries, the game was abandoned and scored for Estudiantes. Over the years there have been a number of renovations to the aging stadium. Over time, the large amount of wood in the wide circle was replaced by more modern and, above all, safer constructions. Rebuilding measures were urgently needed, especially from 2001, when the Argentine Association passed a law that forbade top division clubs to build their stadiums with forest-like substances. The Estadio Juan Carmelo Zerillo also underwent considerable renovations. It was closed to league operations from 2006 to 2008, when Gimnasia y Esgrima moved to the largest urban stadium, the Estadio Ciudad de La Plata , which was not built for league games . Despite the renovation, the Estadio Juan Carmelo Zerillo is still considered a forest stadium , for important games Gimnasia y Esgrima as well as local rivals Estudiantes move to the larger and ultra-modern Estadio Ciudad de La Plata.
The Estadio Juan Carmelo Zerillo currently offers space for a total of 24,544 spectators. After the club returned to the Primera División in 2013, the capacity was reduced from 33,500 to the stated number in favor of security.
