Estadio Diego Armando Maradona
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Diego Armando Maradona Stadium is a
stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
located in the district of Villa General Mitre, Buenos Aires,
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
. It is the home venue of club
Argentinos Juniors Asociación Atlética Argentinos Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Paternal, Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its football team, which currently plays in the Argentine Primera División, and was recognized as one of the ...
, and has a capacity of 26,000. It was given its name in 2004 in honour of former Argentinos player
Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...
(1960–2020) who made his professional debut here in 1976, following the refurbishment of the ground, and to celebrate the club's centenary year.


History

Before the construction of this stadium, there was another one on the same place, wooden made, which first opened in 1940. Since it was small and unsafe, it was left apart in the early 1980s, and the football team moved its basis to the nearer Arquitecto Ricardo Etcheverri stadium, in the neighbourhood of Caballito. The idea was to build a modern and bigger stadium with the 5,800,000 dollars that the club received from the transfer of Diego Armando Maradona to the
FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...
but finally that money was invested in constructing other venues at the multisport complex ''Las Malvinas'', owned by the same club, and in bringing some first level footballers in order to succeed at the national championship. The project of the new stadium had to wait until the next decade. In 1995, the old stadium was demolished, but at the same time a deep economic crisis hit the club and continued for a long time, delaying the works for eight years. Finally, in 2003, the new stadium was finished, and opened on December 26. Six months later, the team returned to the Argentinean First Division, where it is now based. The opening ceremony included two football games between the 1984 team, that won the first national championship for the club versus the team that won the second division tournament in 1997, and another one between the Argentinean U-20 national team and a mix of some of the best players born in the club's youth divisions such as
Juan Pablo Sorín Juan Pablo Sorín (born 5 May 1976) is an Argentine former Association football, footballer and current Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcaster, who played as a left-back or left midfielder. He had a successful club career in his nativ ...
,
Esteban Cambiasso Esteban Matías Cambiasso Deleau (; born 18 August 1980), nicknamed ''"Cuchu"'', is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. During his career, Cambiasso won 21 official titles, the majority of which were won dur ...
, Diego Placente,
Carlos Mac Allister Carlos Javier "Colo" Mac Allister (born 5 March 1968) is an Argentine politician and former association football, footballer. A left-back, he played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, and Racing Club de Avellaneda, Racing Club during his care ...
, Claudio Borghi,
Fabricio Coloccini Fabricio Coloccini (; ; born 22 January 1982) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Coloccini began his club career at Boca Juniors in his native Argentina attracting the attention of A.C. Milan. He faile ...
, Leonel Gancedo and
Sergio Batista Sergio Daniel "Checho" Batista (; born 9 November 1962) is an Argentine football manager and former international player. As a footballer he played as a midfield for Argentinos Juniors, River Plate, Nueva Chicago, Tosu Futures and All Boys. H ...
together with some other remarkable footballers that played in Argentinos, such as
Ubaldo Fillol Ubaldo Matildo Fillol (; born 21 July 1950), nicknamed ''el Pato'' (in English: "the Duck"), is an Argentine football coach and former goalkeeper. He took part in the 1974, 1978 (where he won the championship with his team and was voted Best Goalk ...
. At the end of 2003 works concluded, after several interruptions for economic reasons, since the stadium was built with genuine money paid into the club and not by companies or donations, as some versions wanted to indicate, reopening with a great party on December 26 of that year, with 30,000 people in the stands to watch how a team of Argentinos Juniors' former players of the
1985 Copa Libertadores The 1985 edition of Copa Libertadores was won by Argentinos Juniors, of Argentina for the first time, after defeating América of Colombia in a penalty shootout, following a playoff game after the two-legged final finished level. Group stage Cl ...
winning team against the squad that achieved promotion to Primera División in 1997, plus a match between the U20 Argentinos Juniors vs a combined of past club legends from the youth academy including
Esteban Cambiasso Esteban Matías Cambiasso Deleau (; born 18 August 1980), nicknamed ''"Cuchu"'', is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. During his career, Cambiasso won 21 official titles, the majority of which were won dur ...
,
Juan Pablo Sorín Juan Pablo Sorín (born 5 May 1976) is an Argentine former Association football, footballer and current Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcaster, who played as a left-back or left midfielder. He had a successful club career in his nativ ...
and Claudio Borghi. The aforementioned teams were managed, respectively, by
Roberto Saporiti Roberto Marcos Saporiti (born 11 April 1939 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine retired footballer. He played as a striker, but is currently a manager. He has managed clubs in Argentina, Mexico and Colombia. Playing career Saporiti started his p ...
, Osvaldo ''Chiche'' Sosa,
José Pekerman José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacu ...
, and
Hugo Tocalli Hugo Daniel Tocalli (born 21 January 1948) is an Argentine former professional football player and coach. He played over 400 games as a goalkeeper, and went on to coach a number of clubs as well as the Argentina under-20 team. Playing career To ...
, all of them former players or coaches of the club and identified with it.FIESTA DE REINAUGURACIÓN DEL ESTADIO DE ARGENTINOS
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Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...
made his debut with the Argentina U20 national team in this stadium and scored his first international goal in a friendly match against Paraguay on 29 June 2004.


References


External links

* {{Portal bar, Argentina
Estadio Diego Armando Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Stadium is a stadium located in the district of Villa General Mitre, Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the home venue of club Argentinos Juniors, and has a capacity of 26,000. It was given its name in 2004 in honour of forme ...
Sports venues in Buenos Aires D Sports venues completed in 2003 Estadio