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Estadio Azteca

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Estadio Azteca is a large stadium in Mexico City, Mexico used primarily for football events. Its seating capacity of 114,465 makes it the fourth largest stadium in the world. It is the home stadium of the Mexico national team and the Mexican club America, and the one-time home of Atlante, Cruz Azul, and Necaxa.

Estadio Azteca was the primary site for football (soccer) events during the 1968 Summer Olympics and is the only stadium ever to host two World Cup final matches, in 1970 and 1986. It also hosted the 1986 quarter-final between Argentina and England in which Diego Maradona scored both the Hand of God goal and the Goal of the Century. The stadium also hosted the Game of the Century, when Italy beat Germany by 4-3 in extra time.

History

Estadio Azteca opened in 1966 and was considered one of the most modern sports arena in the world at the time. The opening game was between Club America and Torino F.C. on May 26, 1966, with seats for 107,494 spectators. The first goal was scored was by Brazilian Arlindo Dos Santos Cruz and the second one by Brazilian José Alves "Zague", later the Italians tied the game and ended 2-2. Gustavo Diaz Ordaz President of Mexico made the initial kick and Sir Stanley Rous FIFA President was the witness.

A modern illumination system was inaugurated on June 5, 1966 with the first night game between Valencia C.F. and Necaxa. The first goal of the game was scored by Honduran José "La Coneja" Cardona. In this game Roberto "El Loco" Martinez o Caña Brava scored the first goal made by a Mexican. The final score was 3-1 in favor of Valencia C.F.. There is a Commemorative plaque with the names of the first goal scorer in the first daylight game and in the first night game.

Estadio Azteca is also the site in which Pelé (1970) and Diego Maradona (1986), considered by many the best players of all time, lifted the trophy for their last time. (The Jules Rimet Trophy and the current FIFA World Cup Trophy, respectively).

The stadium has also hosted international club tournaments such at the Copa InterAmericana and the Copa Libertadores.

Estadio Azteca has also been used for musical performances throughout its history. Michael Jackson (1993), U2 (2006), , Elton John, Robbie Williams (2005), Maná, Juan Gabriel,Luis Miguel, Gloria Estefan, Jaguares, Lenny Kravitz, Ana Gabriel, The Three Tenors all have become part of the stadium's mystique. The stadium has also been used for political events, such as Felipe Calderón's campaign closure in 2006, as well as religious events, like the appearance of Pope John Paul II on January 25th, 1999 .

Notable events

Estadio Azteca has hosted to a variety of international sporting competitions, including:

Access and entrance

It is served by the Azteca station on the Xochimilco Light Rail line. This line is an extension of the Mexico City metro system which begins at Tasqueña metro station.

Tickets are usually readily available, up to kick-off times, from the ticket office which is located at the front of the stadium, just down the exit ramps from the Azteca station. Tickets start from as little as 50 pesos (5 U.S. Dollars as of 2007). For bigger matches such as America's games against Guadalajara, Cruz Azul and UNAM where sellouts are common, numerous touts circulate offering tickets at competitive prices.

Naming

The stadium is owned by Mexican TV consortium Televisa. In order to avoid people associating the stadium's name with that of its competition TV Azteca, Televisa officially changed the stadium's name to "Guillermo Cañedo", a top executive and long-time football advocate at Televisa. The change took place in early 1997, following Cañedo's death (January 20th, 1997). However the change did not go well with the general population, who generally refused to refer to the stadium by its alleged new name. Following a schism where two of Cañedo's sons, who worked at Televisa, switched camps and went to TV Azteca, Televisa quietly returned the stadium's name to its old version. Some people did not even notice, as they usually referred to the stadium as "Azteca" during the name change.

The Azteca stadium towers over everything in the vicinity and has been given a nickname: "Coloso de Santa Ursula" which, in English, means "Colossus of Santa Ursula". Santa Ursula refers to the part of town where the stadium resides in Mexico City.

Monuments and Memorials

A bronze plaque of Maradona's "goal of the century" was placed outside the stadium. In addition, a monument memorializes the "Game of the Century."

See also

References

Further reading

External links



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Last updated on Sunday March 02, 2008 at 09:41:28 PST (GMT -0800)
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