Everything about Estadio Mateo Flores totally explained
The
Estadio Nacional Mateo Flores is a multi-use
national stadium in
Guatemala City, the largest in
Guatemala. It was built in
1948, to host the
Central American and Caribbean Games in
1950, and was renamed after
long-distance runner Mateo Flores, winner of the 1952
Boston Marathon. It has a capacity of 30,000 seats.
Used mostly for
football (soccer) matches, the stadium has hosted the majority of the home matches of the
Guatemala national football team throughout its history, and is the home of local football club
Municipal (
Los Rojos). The venue is operated by the
Confederación Deportiva Autónoma de Guatemala (CDAG).
One of the worst disasters ever to occur in a sports venue took place at the stadium in 1996, when 83 people were killed due to a
human avalanche on the stands.
General description
The grass field of the Mateo Flores is surrounded by an eight-lane
athletic track, which originally was made of sand, and later remodeled to have a synthetic
tartan surface. The seating area is divided in five sections:
Palco (located on the
west, and the only section under roof),
Tribuna (west, surrounding the
Palco),
Preferencia (
east),
General Norte (
north), and
General Sur (
south, where the main entrance is located).
History
The stadium was built in 1948, as part of the project to build a group of sports facilities known as
Ciudad Olímpica, in the Zone 5 of the Guatemalan Capital. Originally named
Estadio Olímpico – erroneously, since it has never hosted an
olympic competition –, it's primarily constructed of
reinforced concrete, which is why sometimes it's colloquially referred to as
Coloso de Concreto. It was inaugurated on
August 18,
1950, to host the
VI Central American and Caribbean Games, at which local runner
Doroteo (Mateo) Flores won the
half marathon event.
After Flores' triumph in the
1952 Boston Marathon, the Guatemalan government renamed the stadium after him, in recognition to his local and international achievements. Since then, the stadium is also colloquially called
El Mateo.
In
1967, the
Guatemala national football team won the NORCECA championship, predecessor of the
CONCACAF Gold Cup. All of the tournament's matches were played at the Mateo Flores.
In
1973, the stadium hosted the first
Juegos Deportivos Centroamericanos (Central American Games), and has since been the venue for other two editions, in 1986 and 2001.
Throughout the years, the stadium has also been the usual finishing point of the annual
Vuelta a Guatemala,
Central America's largest single
road cycling competition.
The October 16 disaster
On
October 16,
1996, minutes before a
1998 FIFA World Cup qualification match between
Guatemala and
Costa Rica was to take place, at least 83 people were killed and more than 140 injured as an excessive number of fans attempted to enter the
General Sur section, creating a human avalanche into the bottom of the stands, which is separated from the field by a fence. The sale of
counterfeit tickets led to the excess of attending public, and the improper design of the building in the event of an emergency caused the fans to stampede and fall onto each other, causing many people to
suffocate, in one of the worst tragedies ever occurred in a sports stadium.
The football match was immediately suspended by
Guatemala President Alvaro Arzú, who was attending the event, and
FIFA suspended the use of the stadium for official international matches until the safety issues were resolved, a ban that lasted over two years. Some of the problems have been addressed since, but the facility still presents multiple safety issues related to access and egress, and is considered prone to the occurrence of another emergency situation in the event of high attendance.
It is believed that near 50,000 people were trying to attend the stadium that day, which days before the event had been determined to be capable of 37,500 people and of a maximum "congested" seating of 47,500. The total amount of printed tickets was 45,796. According to a local analysis, the number of printed tickets topped the capacity of the stadium by itself, and the circulation of
counterfeit tickets made the excess of attendance incontrollable. At the time, 13 administrative directors were syndicated responsible for the deaths and injuries, but every one of them were able to have the charges dismissed. The
CDAG doesn't assume responsibility for the safety of the facility, claiming that it's the duty of the entities who organize the sports events. The CDAG, however, doesn't offer a basic contingency or emergency plan for the use of the stadium.
To comply with some of the recommendations made by FIFA after the 1996 events, the capacity of the stadium – which had no individual or numbered seating at the time – was reduced to 30,000 in the 2000s.
Further Information
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