Estadio Charrúa

Estadio Charrúa is a stadium in the Carrasco neighborhood of Montevideo, Uruguay, used mostly for football and rugby union matches. Property of the Montevideo Department, it is currently leased to the Uruguayan Rugby Union and Uruguayan Football Association after an agreement signed in 2012.[2] The stadium holds 14,000 people.

Estadio Charrúa
Tierra de Teros[1]
Aerial view of the stadium in 2018
Full nameEstadio de Alternativa Charrúa
AddressAv. Bolivia s/n
Montevideo
Uruguay
Coordinates34.878424°S 56.089320°W / -34.878424; -56.089320
OwnerMontevideo Department
OperatorURU
AUF
Capacity14,000
Field size100 x 75 m
Surfacesynthetic
Construction
Opened1984 (1984)
Renovated2006, 2018
Structural engineerJuan Berta
Tenants
Website
municipioe.montevideo.gub.uy/estadio

Estadio Charrúa has been a frequent venue of teams such as the Uruguay national rugby union team, Uruguay women's national football team, Peñarol Rugby and Montevideo City Torque.

History

Originally planned and built as a football venue in 1984, in 2006 it was re-built thanks to a FIFA project called GOAL.[3][4]

Local club Peñarol attempted to acquire the stadium in 1993, but those negotiations did not prosper. The club made a new attempt in 2001 with a project that included its expansion to 30,000 spectators with an investment of US$8 million. With a period of concession of 30 years, refurbishments also included new press boxes, dressing rooms, and parking lot. Nevertheless the Montevideo Neighborhood Council rejected the project due to "the negative impact for the area (...) the deterioration of the quality of life of the residents and the devaluation of their patrimony".[5]

In December 2012 the Municipality of Montevideo signed a contract of concession with both bodies, Uruguayan Rugby Union (URU) and Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) for ten years.[2] The URU used the stadium for its headquarters, its high performance training center, and as the regular home of its national teams, most notably the senior men's team.[1]

Since 2013 the stadium has hosted Uruguay national rugby union team matches, and has also hosted Charrúas (American football national team of Uruguay) matches, and even concerts. The name Charrúa refers to Indigenous peoples in Uruguay.[4]

In football, the stadium is the home venue for Montevideo City Torque matches since 2020,[6] when the team moved from Estadio Centenario.

Events

Football

The stadium was one of three venues for the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, hosting all matches of Group A and D, plus semi-finals, third place and final.[7] Estadio Charrúa also hosted all the matches of 2022 South American U-17 Women's Championship.[8]

Rugby

After the agreement signed in 2012, Estadio Charrúa became a frequent venue of the Uruguay national team, having hosted several World Cup qualification and test matches. The stadium has also been Peñarol's home venue for their games at the Super Rugby Americas since its first edition in 2020.

Panoramic view of Estadio Charrúa during the 2015 Rugby World Cup qualifier match, Uruguay vs Russia

Concerts

Some artists that performed at Estadio Charrúa were Andrés Calamaro,[9] Daddy Yankee,[10] Joan Manuel Serrat and Joaquín Sabina,[11] Marc Anthony, No Te Va Gustar, La Vela Puerca, Ricardo Arjona, Selena Gomez & the Scene,[12] and Silvio Rodríguez.

  • Exterior view in 2013
    Exterior view in 2013
  • End zone in 2015
    End zone in 2015
  • Uruguay v Argentina rugby, 2015
    Uruguay v Argentina rugby, 2015
  • The crowd during a rugby match in 2015
    The crowd during a rugby match in 2015
  • FIFA u17 WC, NZ v Canada
    FIFA u17 WC, NZ v Canada
  • Uruguay v USA rugby, 2021
    Uruguay v USA rugby, 2021

See also

References
  1. Deges, Frankie (2013-11-12). "'Beating the USA would be wonderful'". ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 2013-11-12.
  2. CONTRATO DE CONCESION DE USO at URU (archived, 14 Dec 2012)
  3. "Estadio Charrúa". Uruguay FA. Archived from the original on September 2, 2011. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  4. Estadio Charrúa at Fifa.com
  5. Top 10 – Estadios que no fueron by Álvaro Cabrera at Campeondelsiglo.com, 16 Apr 2015 (archived)
  6. ¿Por qué Montevideo City Torque lleva a Nacional al Charrúa? on ESPN, 8 Feb 2021
  7. Group A, Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo at Fifa.com (archived)
  8. Sudamericano Femenino sub17 at Conmebol.com
  9. Andrés Calamaro girará por Uruguay on Efeeme.com, 28 Jan 2008
  10. Se suspendió el recital de Daddy Yankee at El Observador, 11 Apr 2011
  11. ¿Por qué Sabina - Serrat valen la mitad en Montevideo? at Infonegocios.info
  12. Estrella adolescente en el Charrúa, 17 Jan 2012 at Infonegocios
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Estadio Charrúa.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.