El estadio de fútbol que no quieren utilizar

The football stadium they don't want to use

A month ago the U20 World Cup ended and Uruguay won the title for the first time in its history.

The final match was played at the Estadio Único de La Plata whose official name is Diego Armando Maradona and where Uruguay beat the excellent Italian team by the slightest difference, which had given a true football lesson against Brazil in the first match. group stage match.

Of course, the news about the champion and that final match have been written and reproduced worldwide where soccer is one of the favorite sports, not to mention the media in Uruguay and Italy, the finalists.

What is generally not talked about is the stadium where the match was held, if of course all the venues are mentioned and a review is made of what they are like and what amenities they have before and during the event, but not much more than that.

Sometimes some of these stadiums have captivating stories and anecdotes, there are mythical and renowned ones where matches and tournaments have been held that became legends, there are also others that go unnoticed, such as the case of Diego Armando Maradona, better known as "Único de La Plata" stadium, although it has nothing unique about it, it is just that word that represents a frustrated idea.

The first idea of building a stadium that could host the matches of the two prominent soccer teams in La Plata, I mean Estudiantes and Gimnasia y Esgrima, my favorite team, was launched in 1947, including the governor of that time, Domingo Mercante, reached the point of expropriating the lands where it is located today. However, that idea was stuck only in that.

It was not until 1972 that the archived project, although never completely forgotten, took on new strength, mainly due to the choice of Argentina to host the 1978 World Cup and with the hope of being chosen among the various proposals, it was carried out a competition that was won by a renowned studio of local architects, for economic reasons and insufficient transport infrastructure again the project was saved to continue gathering dust. Paradoxically, the same studio of architects built the Mar del Plata stadium on time and form, which was the scene of several matches of that World Cup.

It was not until 1993 that the idea was revived again and a new competition was held for its development and construction, this time it was serious and the winning architect devised the form and amalgamated in a single place the history and idiosyncrasy of the two clubs since they would share space, passion, and rivalry. He thought of it as two joined circles, like a nil-nil tie.

There were attempts to start construction in 1995 and then in 1997, although it was not until 1998 that the first works came to light. It was budgeted at 50 million dollars, and 82 were consumed in its development. There were periods where no progress was made at all, although finally in 2003 the stadium was enabled for the purpose for which it was built.

For reasons that can only be explained in a country like ours, where bureaucracy, nonsense, and improvisation often win out over the undeniable talent of the inhabitants, the roof made of fiberglass and Teflon by a foreign company, was delayed for years. in customs and it was only placed a long time after its inauguration.

The great delays played against him and both Estudiantes and Gimnasia in all that time remodeled and built a large part of their dilapidated stadiums and designed for another era, as a corollary neither of the two teams is now interested in using it, each one in their own way they fixed them up and invested large sums of money and both have their stadiums well presented, their partners and supporters flatly refuse to abandon them, too many stories and emotions are kept in the stands of both.

As a sign of the little interest that the two main teams from La Plata had in playing there, the debut of the stadium for a soccer match was between Villa San Carlos and Acassuso, two teams from the first C of local soccer, attended by 6,000 spectators in an enclosure that can accommodate more than 50,000. Sometimes, more due to commitment and pressure than necessity, they played classics from La Plata.

Consequently, the "Único de La Plata" stadium can go months without being used and when it is used it is generally to host an event that has nothing to do with what its promoters thought. It has received the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, there the All Blacks were crowned champions (for the umpteenth time) of the Rugby Championship, there are eventually recitals by other local and international bands, it was used as a vaccination during the Covid pandemic and some that once again the national soccer team appeared to play friendly matches.

Just this year, a quality soccer event such as the U20 World Cup allowed the Único de La Plata to show that it is an excellent setting for the dispute of international quality matches and tournaments.

This is the story of a modern and beautiful stadium, problematic, little used, and contradictory. A finished sample of why Argentina is a hieroglyph that few understand.