Estadio Cuauhtémoc

Estadio Cuauhtémoc
Location	Puebla, Puebla, Mexico
Coordinates	19°04′41″N 98°09′52″W / 19.07806°N 98.16444°W
Owner	State of Puebla
Operator	Puebla F.C.
Capacity	41,217 (will be expanded to 52,370 )
Field size	105 x 68 m
Surface	Grass
Construction
Opened	October 8, 1968
Expanded	1985
Architect	Pedro Ramírez Vázquez
Tenants
	Puebla F.C. (Liga MX) (1968–present)

Estadio Cuauhtémoc is a football stadium in Puebla, Puebla (110 kilometres east of Mexico City).

The stadium, which has a capacity of 41,217 seats, is the home of Puebla F.C.. It is currently the fifth biggest stadium in Mexico in terms of capacity. Puebla's other team, Lobos de la BUAP, have also hosted matches at Estadio Cuauhtémoc. The stadium has hosted two football World Cups: 1970 FIFA World Cup and 1986 FIFA World Cup. The stadium is located near the Puebla-Veracruz highway, adjacent to the baseball stadium, Estadio Hermanos Serdán.

The stadium is named after Cuauhtémoc, who was the last Aztec emperor.

History

Estadio Cuauhtémoc has been the home for Puebla F.C. for the last 40 years and has witness various national and international tournaments the stadium is located in Puebla, Puebla Mexico. The Stadium was design by the architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, who also designed el Estadio Azteca and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It was inaugurated on October 6, 1968 during the pre inauguration of the 1968 Summer Olympics. It takes its name from the Mexican brewery Cuauhtémoc-Moctezuma who paid for most of the construction.^[2] The stadium was constructed in 500 days with workers having 16-18 hour shifts in order to be done in time for the 1968 Olympic Games. The stadium was inaugurated on October 6, 1968 prior to the 1968 Summer Olympics games in a match between Mexico national football team and Czech Republic national football team in match that ended in a 1-1 draw.The first goal was scored by the Mexican player Isidoro Díaz the second goal was scored by the Czechoslovakian Stratil .The first league match was held against Club América that same year with tickets prices were as follow ranging from 40.00 pesos to 10.00 pesos.

In its first years of existences the club had a capacity of 35,000 plus till the 1985 renovation due to the 1986 FIFA World Cup that was going to take place in Mexico for the second time.A moral that had been painted by Jesús Corro Ferrer which represented all the races around the world had to be cover up due to the renovation.The stadium has an official capacity for 42,648 all though on some occasions the stadium has had crowd attendance above 50,000 in concerts and special events.The Stadium is the 4th biggest and the tallest in Mexico behind the Estadio Jalisco in Jalisco. The stadium has hosted 2 Mexican Primera División finals. The first came in the 1982-83 tournament when Puebla F.C. defeated C.D. Guadalajara in an on of the best finals in league history, were the final was send to a penalty shoot were Puebla's player Enrique Fernandez scored the final goal giving Puebla F.C. its first league title.

The second final was played in the 1989-90 tournament against Club Universidad de Guadalajara where Puebla managed beat the club from Jalisco 4-3.The stadium has also hosted the now defunct Copa México tournament which the club managed to win in 1990 in the Estadio Cuauhtémoc and so becoming just the 5 stadium to host both finals were the home team came out victorious.

The stadium has also hosted club international tournaments such as the CONCACAF Champions League and Copa Interamericana.In 2008 the stadium was supposed to host its first Copa Sudamericana tournament but did not after the CONCACAF decided to pull out of all CONMEBOL competitions due to the clubs lack of interests in the domestic conference tournaments.

1970 FIFA World Cup

El Estadio Cuauhtémoc was home to Uruguay national football team in this world cup.In the first game on June 2, 1970 Uruguay defeated Israel 2-0. The second match was against Italy were the teams draw a 0-0.The third match was against Sweden were Uruguay fell 1-0. Important players played in this games such as Sandro Mazzola and Luigi Riva who would go on to play that cup final against Brazil which they lost 4-1.

1986 FIFA World Cup

In 1986 Mexico hosted the 13th world cup becoming the first country to ever host the world cup for a second time. This came to be when Colombia announced in 1983 that they weren't going to be available to organize the tournament and pull back.

In this World Cup, Puebla played a bigger role than the previous one in 1970.This time the defending cup champions Italy made El Estadio Cuauhtémoc home. Italy played against Argentina on July 5, 1986 were they tied 1-1 with a goal from the football legend Diego Armando Maradona. The second game was against Korea Republic national football team who Italy managed to defeat 3-2.

In quarter finales Argentina defeated Uruguay in a classic South American game 1-0 in El Estadio Cuauhtémoc played on June 5, 1986. In quarterfinals the stadium hosted the match between Spain and Belgium where after 90 minutes the match ended in a 1-1 draw which would send them to overtime. The match would have to go to as penalty shoot out after no one score in the overtime quarters.Van der Elst would score the final and decisive goal which would send Belgium to the final. In that match the stadium registered the biggest crowd with an attendance of 45,000.

File:Estadiocuah.jpg

Stadiums Renovation set to start in 2013

Present Day

In 2012 the state of Puebla was named to host the 2013 CONCACAF U-20 Championship, Estadio Cuauhtémoc will host games along with Estadio Olímpico de C.U. from February 18 to March 2. Because of this, the stadium will undergo renovations including adding a brand new big screen and 2 more locker rooms. On January 18, the president of Puebla FC announced a complete renovation of the stadium that is set to begin in the summer of 2013. The stadium will grow in capacity from 46,000 to 53,000 along with new restaurants, a club museum, an official club store and various outlet shops.

In early 2014 the governor of Puebla present the official project .The stadium would have a final capacity of 52,370 which would come the way of 2 new ramps that would be build in the north and south side of the stadium . Construction started on November 2014 and it was initially planned to be done by October 2015 and inaugurated with a match between Mexico and Panama. Due to the city's rainy season construction slowed down and in august 2015 it was announced that the construction would be done in January 2016 .

Matches from world cups and Olympic Games

1968 Summer Olympics Group A
Date	Match	Attendance
October 13 1968^[3]	France 1-0 Guinea	10 000
October 15 1968^[4]	Guinea1-1 Colombia	10 000
October 17 1968^[5]	Colombia 1-4 France	10 000

1968 Summer Olympics Group B
Date	Match	Attendance
14 October 1968^[6]	Japan 3-1 Nigeria	10 000
16 October 1968^[7]	Brazil 1-1 Japan	10 000
18 October 1968^[8]	Brazil 3-3 Nigeria	10 000

1968 Summer Olympics - Quarterfinals
Date	Match	Attendance
20 October 1968^[9]	Mexico 2-0 Spain	10 000

1970 FIFA World Cup
Date	Match	Attendance
June 2 1970	Uruguay 2-0 Israel	20 659
June 6 1970	Uruguay 0-0 Italy	29 968
June 10 1970	Sweden 1-0 Uruguay	18 163

1986 FIFA World Cup
Date	Match	Attendance
June 5 1986	Italy 1-1 Argentina	32 000
June 10 1986	South Korea 2-3 Italy	20 000
June 16 1986	Argentina 1-0 Uruguay	26 000
June 22 1986	Spain 1-1(4-5tab) Belgium	45 000
June 28 1986	France 4-2 Belgium	21 000