Estadio Alberto Gallardo 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 ...

in the Rimac District of

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, named after

Alberto Gallardo Félix Alberto Gallardo Mendoza (28 November 1940 – 19 January 2001) was a Peruvian football player and manager who played as a forward. He is regarded as a renowned sprinter, possessing shooting power and an atypical physical display for Pe ...

, a former Peruvian football player and manager who played for several years for Sporting Cristal. It is the home of football club

Sporting Cristal Club Sporting Cristal S.A., shortened to Sporting Cristal, is a Peruvian sports club located in the city of Lima, best known for its association football, soccer team. It was founded on 13 December 1955 in the Rímac District, Rímac district by e ...

. The stadium was built in the 1960s along the

Rímac River The Rímac River is located in western Peru and is the most important source of potable water for the Lima and Callao Metropolitan Area. It belongs to the Pacific Slope, into which it flows after bathing the cities of Lima and Callao, togethe ...

for local football use and was originally named Estadio San Martín de Porres. Many clubs playing in the Primera División,

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

, and district leagues of San Martín de Porres were among the many tenants the stadium had. In 1995, Sporting Cristal—one of the regular first division tenants of the stadium—decided to lease the venue from the Instituto Peruano del Deporte for 17 years. In 2012 the club signed a new lease contract for 10 years which will expire in 2022. The stadium itself has hosted a few high-risk matches due to the limited access to the stadium and the low capacity of 11,600.

History

The football stadium was built in the 1960s for the practice of

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

. The venue was regularly used for matches in the

and the district leagues of

. In 1979, Sporting Cristal began to host its home matches in the San Martín de Porres and again between 1983 and 1985. In the middle of 1995, Sporting Cristal signed an agreement with the Instituto Peruano de Deportes which would lease the stadium to the club. The club then invested $200,000 in the stadium for renovations which included grass imported from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. On 24 September 1995, the stadium re-opened its doors to a first division match between

and

Cienciano Club Cienciano, more commonly known as Cienciano, is a Peru, Peruvian professional association football, football club based in Cusco, that currently plays in the Peruvian Primera División. It gained worldwide recognition after defeating Club At ...

, where Cristal defeated Cienciano 6–0. The stadium had a total capacity of 20,000 spectators in its four stands in the 1960s but it has been reduced to 11,600 due to the safety regulations in the Peruvian 30037 law against violence in sports events. The southern stand overlooks the cliff of the

. This stand is not open to the public. The restriction of this stand has prevented high-risk matches from being hosted in recent times, notably against rivals

Alianza Lima Club Alianza Lima, more commonly known as simply Alianza Lima, is a Peru, Peruvian professional sports club based in La Victoria District, Lima, La Victoria District of Lima, Peru. The club was founded under the name of Sport Alianza on February ...

and

Universitario de Deportes Club Universitario de Deportes is a Peruvian sports club based in Lima, which has Association football, soccer as its main activity. It also has women's football, volleyball and basketball sections. The football team, popularly known as Universi ...

which are customarily played in the Estadio Nacional. In 2010, Sporting Cristal took advantage of the ongoing renovation of the Estadio Nacional to play rivals Alianza and Universitario in their home stadium. In May 2012, Sporting Cristal was able to legally change the name of the stadium from Estadio San Martín de Porres to Estadio Alberto Gallardo, which is the name of an iconic former player of the club following the signing of the new ten-year lease.

International Matches

References

{{coord, 12.038, S, 77.045, W, display=title, source:ptwiki San Martin de Porres Sporting Cristal Sports venues in Lima Multi-purpose stadiums in Peru San Martín de Porres District

History

International Matches

See also

References