Estadio El Teniente-Codelco

Estadio El Teniente, also known as Estadio El Teniente-Codelco for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Rancagua, Chile. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium actually holds approximately 13,000 people and was built in 1945 with the name Braden Copper Company Stadium (Estadio Braden Copper Co.). The stadium is the home stadium for O'Higgins, the team of the city of Rancagua.

The stadium hosted seven matches of 1962 FIFA World Cup, where played matches of the group stage and quarter-finals.

In 2013, the stadium was renovated for hosting the 2015 Copa America, to be played in Chile. Two matches of the group stage will be played in this stadium.

History

Construction

The stadium, since its construction, was owned by the U.S. copper mining company Braden Copper Company, which operated the mineral-extraction complex "El Teniente".

The designation of the Braden Copper Stadium to host matches in the 1962 FIFA World Cup was due to an emergency. Indeed, the 1960 Valdivia earthquake severely damaged or destroyed facilities in some of the originally-designated host cities of the FIFA World Cup in 1962 including Talca, Concepcion, Talcahuano and Valdivia, which caused the original schedule to be discarded and forced its almost complete modification. Further, Antofagasta and Valparaiso were deterred from fulfilling their offers to host because they could not feasibly construct self-funded stadiums, a condition that had been imposed by the Federation due to its own lack of resources. However, given the bleak outlook for the organization, the U.S. mining interests allowed the use of their stadium in Rancagua.

Nationalisation of copper

The Government of Chile acquired in 1967 51% of the shares of Braden Copper Co., as part of the general nationalization of copper, which concluded in 1971. Therefore, the ownership and management of the "Estadio Braden Copper" passed to the state-owned corporation Codelco