Estadio 15 De Abril
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The 15 de Abril 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 completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...
in Santa Fe,
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 ...
. It is currently used primarily for
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 ...
matches and it is the home ground of club
Unión de Santa Fe Club Atlético Unión (; mostly known as Unión de Santa Fe ) is a sports club from Santa Fe, Argentina, Santa Fe, the capital city of the Santa Fe Province, in Argentina. The club was founded on 15 April 1907. Unión is mostly known for its asso ...
. The venue bears his name in homage to the date the club was founded. It was the first made of cement and with artificial
lighting Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight. ...
in the region. Currently it has a capacity of 29,000. The Estadio 15 de Abril was the fourth and last move that Unión had, which, during its first two decades of life, had gone through two of its own playing fields. The first was the now non-existent Santa Coloma square, the second where the Nuestra Señora del Calvario School currently operates at the intersection of Urquiza and Suipacha streets; while the third was where the rectory of the Universidad Nacional del Litoral is located today in


History

At the beginning, Unión played their home matches at Plaza Santa Coloma. In April 1908, the club moved to San Jerónimo and Boulevard Pellegrini streets, rented for m$n80. In 1926, the
Government of Argentina The government of Argentina, within the framework of a federal system, is a presidential system, presidential Representative democracy, representative democratic republic. The president of Argentina is both head of state and head of government. ...
led by Marcelo T. de Alvear granted Universidad Nacional del Litoral the land on San Jerónimo and Pellegrini, which resulted in Unión being evicted from the field. In May 1928, the club acquired a land to build their own stadium. In 1928 the club began the works that would lead to the construction of the current football stadium. The idea of the club executives was to inaugurate the venue on the same date that the club celebrated its 22nd. anniversary, but due to calendar and weather reasons, the "15 de Abril Stadium" was finally inaugurated on Sunday, 28 April 1929. That day, the celebration It began in the morning with a parade of sports delegations, municipal and provincial political presences, a basketball match, plus a preliminary football match between
Atlético de Rafaela Asociación Mutual Social y Deportiva Atlético de Rafaela, known simply as Atlético de Rafaela, is an Argentine sports club based in the city of Rafaela, in Santa Fe Province. The club is mostly known for its professional football team, that com ...
and San Lorenzo de Esperanza. The main match would come later, when Unión played against a team of the
Asociación Amateurs de Football The Asociación Amateurs de Football (AAmF) was a dissident football association of Argentina that organised its own championships from 1919 to 1926. The Argentine Football Association did not recognise those championships until both associatio ...
, a dissident governing body that had been established in 1926.Historia
on AFA website
"Memoria y Balance Asociación Amateurs de Football 1919–1921"
– AFA website
On the day of its inauguration, a plaque was also placed in the stands (current members' sector) in honor of the former player and deceased at that time, Albino García, and for a couple of years the stadium was known as the "Albino García Stadium" since the only grandstand was named after him. Nevertheless, when the club inaugurated new stands and as time went by, the fans forgot about the player's name. On 3 November 1931, the club decided to install the first
lighting Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight. ...
towers in its stadium that existed in Santa Fe. The work was carried out by the Siemens Company, demanding an investment of m$n22,000, a high amount for that time. The first night game in Santa Fe was played on Saturday, 12 December 1931, in a match vs
Rosario Central Club Atlético Rosario Central (), more commonly referred to as Rosario Central, or simply Central, is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina, that plays in the Argentine Primera División. The club was officially founded on 24 December 1889, ...
that Unión won 3–2. On 18 December 1943, in a friendly match of the Santa Fe derby, the sector of the north stand (where the visitor supporters were) collapsed, causing several fans to end up injured and hospitalized. After that incident the club decided to refurbish the stadium to replace the wooden stands by other made of cement. In the 1950s the club would begin several renovations and expansions in the stadium with the idea of increasing its capacity to 80,000 people. Nevertheless, the idea fell apart when there was a change of governor in the province and the loan for the club was canceled. By 1954 the stadium had a capacity for 30,000 people, being the largest stadium in the city- After the sells of some notable players in middle 1970s (
Hugo Gatti Hugo Orlando Gatti (19 August 1944 – 20 April 2025) was an Argentine football goalkeeper who played in the Argentine Primera División for 26 seasons
and
Ernesto Mastrángelo Ernesto Enrique Mastrángelo (5 July 1948 – 22 July 2023) was an Argentine football striker who played for both River Plate and Boca Juniors in Argentina. He also played international football for the Argentina national team. Mastrángelo ...
to
Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...
,
Leopoldo Luque Leopoldo Jacinto Luque (; (3 May 1949 – 15 February 2021) was an Argentine professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career In a career spanning from 1972 to 1984 he played for Unión de Santa Fe, Rosario Central, River Plate, R ...
to River Plate,El contrato de la venta de Unión a River de Leopoldo Jacinto Luque
at Sinmordaza.com, 16 Feb 2021
among others), the club received incomes that allowed it to remodel and expand the stadium.El Estadio 15 de Abril, una verdadera "Cuna de gigantes": la casa de Unión cumple 92 años
on Aires de Santa Fe by Andrés Yosen – 27 Apr 2021
Unión drew an average home attendance of 29,753 in the
2024 Argentine Primera División The 2024 Argentine Primera División - Liga Profesional (officially the Torneo Betano 2024 for sponsorship reasons) was the 134th season of top-flight professional football in Argentina. The league season began on 10 May and ended on 16 December 2 ...
.


Gallery


References


External links

* {{coord, 31, 37, 55, S, 60, 42, 57, W, type:landmark, display=title Unión de Santa Fe quinc Buildings and structures in Santa Fe, Argentina 1929 establishments in Argentina Sports venues completed in 1929