El Monumental River Plate Stadium |
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Full name | Estadio Antonio Vespucio Liberti |
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Former names | Estadio Monumental (1938–1986) |
Location | Buenos Aires, Argentina |
Owner | River Plate |
Capacity | 62,000 [1] |
Record attendance | 100,000+ (River Plate-Racing Club, in 1975) |
Field size | 105 x 68 m |
Surface | Grass |
Construction | |
Built | 1936–1938 |
Opened | May 25, 1938 |
Renovated | 1978 |
Architect | José Aslan Héctor Ezcurra |
Tenants | |
Argentine national football team River Plate 2018 Summer Youth Olympics Argentina national rugby union team |
Estadio Antonio Vespucio Liberti (Spanish pronunciation: [eˈstaðjo monumenˈtal anˈtonjo βesˈpusjo liˈβeɾti]), also referred to as River Plate Stadium, Monumental de Núñez or simply El Monumental, is a stadium in the Núñez district of Buenos Aires, Argentina, home of the football club River Plate. It was opened on 25 May 1938 and named after former club president Antonio Vespucio Liberti. It is the largest stadium in Argentina with a capacity of 76.000 and also home of the Argentina national football team. It was the main venue in the 1951 Pan American Games and in the 1978 FIFA World Cup when hosted the final between Argentina and the Netherlands. Additionally, it hosted four finals of the Copa América, most recently in 2011 for the 2011 Copa América.
In 2018, the stadium will host the Opening and Closing ceremonies of 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires.
The Club Atlético River Plate was founded in 1901 and by 1934, it had won two championships. At the time, the club was nicknamed "Los Millonarios" (The Millionaires in Spanish) because of the purchase of forward Carlos Peucelle for whom River had paid a huge amount of money. On October 31, 1934, River Plate purchased the land where the club was to build the new stadium in the neighborhood of Belgrano.