Julio César Villagra Stadium, nicknamed ''El Gigante de Alberdi'', is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

located in Barrio Alberdi in

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, the second largest city in Argentina and the capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cord ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. Inaugurated on 17 March 1929, it is the home ground of

Club Atlético Belgrano Club Atlético Belgrano (; mostly known simply as Belgrano or Belgrano de Córdoba ) is an Argentine sports club from the city of Córdoba, Argentina, Córdoba, best known for its Association football, football team, which currently plays in th ...

and has a capacity of 38,000 spectators. The stadium was named after Julio César Villagra (1961–1993), one of the greatest players for the club, who played for Belgrano from 1982 to 1993, when he committed suicide.

History

The idea to build a stadium came in 1927 led by Belgrano member Carlos Courel, who then became club vice president. Belgrano asked the mayor of

, Emilio Olmos, for financial support to achieve that aim. Most of the work was financed by the Municipality, which lent the club mn$60,000. The total cost was about mn$85,000. The Belgrano executives committed to repay the loan in bimonthly payments of $2,000 each.Historia del Gigante de Alberdi
on Info Deportes Chacha_villagra_belgrano

Alfredo García Voglio was behind the project, executed by Patiño and Fontaine Silva company. Work began in July 1928 and the stadium (capacity of 10,000 spectators) was inaugurated less than one year later, on 17 March 1929. Until then, the main stadium in Córdoba was inaugurated in 1917, the first pitch in the city which had a capacity for 6.000. The stadium hosted the main friendly matches in Córdoba until it was closed in 1939. In the first match at the stadium, Belgrano played a friendly match v

Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "La Plata Students"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata, is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, where it has spent most of its histo ...

, which defeated them 6–1. That same year, Belgrano celebrated their first title in their new stadium when the club won the Liga Cordobesa after beating Nacional 2–1. The lighting system was inaugurated in December 1945 in a match v

Newell's Old Boys Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. A ...

. In May 1997, the stadium was reopened after refurbishment, hosting a match where Belgrano defeated

Argentina U20 The Argentina national under-20 football team is the representative of Argentina in FIFA-sponsored tournaments that pertain to that age level. Argentina is the most successful nation in the FIFA U-20 World Cup, winning the competition a record si ...

2–1. That match was a friendly that helped the national team prepare for the

1997 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1997 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 11th staging of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA World Youth Championship. It was held from 16 June to 5 July 1997 i ...

. Since then, ''El Gigante de Alberdi'' was not remodeled until 2017 when its capacity was expanded to 30,000 spectators. In 2015, Belgrano president Armando Pérez presented the remodeling project for the stadium, which was to be financed by both the club and its supporters. Works included a complete overhaul of the Hualfin stand, which was renamed to honour former Belgrano player and manager Tomas Cuellar, and a general modernization of the stadium. The works were completed in 2017 under the presidency of Jorge Francesqui and the stadium was reinaugurated in a match against

San Martín de San Juan Club Atlético San Martín, mostly known as San Martín de San Juan, is an Argentine football club from the city of San Juan. The team currently plays in the Argentine Liga Profesional de Futbol, the first division of the Argentine football league ...

, in which Belgrano won 1-0. In 2024, Belgrano drew an average home attendance of 36,322.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Estadio El Gigante De Alberdi Club Atlético Belgrano

giga Giga- ( or ) is a metric prefix, unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of a Long and short scales, short-scale billion or long-scale milliard (109 or 1,000,000,000). It has the symbol G. ''Giga-'' is derived from the Ancient Greek, ...

Buildings and structures in Córdoba, Argentina 1929 establishments in Argentina Sports venues completed in 1929