Vicente Lopez Stadium

The Estadio Ciudad de Vicente Lopez is a stadium located in the neighborhood of Florida in Vicente Lopez Partido of Greater Buenos Aires. Owned and operated by Club Atletico Platense, the stadium was built in 1979, and has a capacity of 28,530 spectators. The stadium is mainly used for football matches.

History

Platense had its first stadium on Posadas street in the Retiro neighborhood, built on a land rented to the Municipality of Buenos Aires. It had been built in 1907 and the club used the venue until 1911, when Platense moved to Manuela Pedraza and Blandengues streets in the neighborhood of Belgrano. In 1917 the club rented a land on Manuela Pedraza and Cramer streets in the Saavedra district, where the football team (promoted to Argentine Primera Division in 1912) played their home matches until 1971. The first match in Saavedra was held on July 9, 1917, when Platense beat Rosarian club Provincial 1–0.

By 1922, the stadium included an official grandstand (with roof), with seven rooms on the main floor, and one tennis court among other facilities. The stadium was refurbished to expand its capacity, in 1932 and 1939. In February 1941, Platense opened a velodrome, placed next to the stadium. For years, it was the only velodrome in the city of Buenos Aires. In the centre of the arena, the basketball team of the club played their home games.

The club acquired a land in Vicente Lopez Partido to build a stadium there in 1947. Three years later, C.A. Platense obtained a loan to build a stadiun made of concrete, inspired on Club Atletico Huracan's venue, Estadio Tomas Adolfo Duco. The stadium would host 60,000 spectators. Nevertheless, the project was dismissed in 1955, when after the Revolucion Libertadora, a military government took the power in Argentina. In 1965, the club refurbished the stadium, expanding the field dimensions to 110 x 70 m, and demolishing the velodrome. In 1971, the club was in a deep financial crisis and had to leave the land on Manuela Pedraza and Cramer. The