Football stadium in Belo Hornzonte, Brazil
Estádio Raimundo Sampaio, more commonly known as Independência (Portuguese: Independence), is a football stadium located 💵 in the Horto neighborhood of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
It was built in 1950 for the FIFA World Cup, held 💵 in Brazil.
Initially its capacity was 30,000 people, but after the reconstruction between 2010 and 2012, the capacity is approximately 23,000 💵 people.
[1] It belonged to the defunct Sete de Setembro Futebol Clube, which is why the stadium is called Independence (the 💵 name of the team, September 7, is Brazil's Independence Day).
The stadium is currently property of América Futebol Clube, but has 💵 been leased to the Minas Gerais state government for 20 years, as a counterpart to the injection of public resources 💵 to demolish the old stadium and build the new one.
Estádio Independência is the second most important stadium in Belo Horizonte, 💵 behind only Mineirão.
Its formal name honors Raimundo Sampaio, a former chairman of Sete de Setembro.
América plays their home games in 💵 there.
History [ edit ]
Construction started in 1947, in preparation for the 1950 FIFA World Cup.
The inaugural match was the World 💵 Cup match between Yugoslavia and Switzerland, won by the former by 3–0, and played on June 25, 1950.
The first stadium 💵 goal was scored by Tomasevic.
One of the most famous upsets in FIFA World Cup history was played here, the 1-0 💵 upset by the United States over England at that 1950 World Cup.
After the construction of Mineirão, ownership of the stadium 💵 was transferred by the Minas Gerais government to Sete de Setembro.
Originally the stadium belonged to the Government of Minas Gerais, 💵 but with the inauguration of Mineirão in 1965, became the property of the club Sete de Setembro (the reason the 💵 stadium is popularly known as "Independence", according to the historical date).
With the merger of this club with América, the latter 💵 became the owner.
At this stage América won Campeonato Brasileiro Série B in 1997 in the confrontation against Vila Nova-GO and 💵 in a match against Náutico.
For the final phase 18,900 paying fans attended.
América also won at that stage the Brazilian Series 💵 C Championship in 2009.
In 1999, in partnership with Atlético, América built a metal-structure grandstand, increasing the stadium capacity to about 💵 30,000 people, plus an electronic scoreboard.
Owing to a lack of proper security, this grandstand was deactivated shortly thereafter.
The end of 💵 the partnership also resulted in the removal of the scoreboard.
Independência already served as a venue for music festivals, such as 💵 Pop Rock Brazil and the Axé Brazil.
The attendance record is 32,721 spectators, set in the match between Minas Gerais and 💵 Guanabara (Carioca), won by Minas Gerais 1–0, and played on January 27, 1963, it was the first final match of 💵 the 1962 Campeonato Brasileiro de Seleções Estaduais, played by state teams.
A panorama of Independência before a matchRenovation [ edit ]
In 💵 2010, Independência was demolished apart from its dressing rooms,[2] and a brand new stadium was built in its place to 💵 host the games of Atlético Mineiro and América Mineiro while Mineirão went through renovations to host the 2014 FIFA World 💵 Cup.
During the stadium's renovation, all three Belo Horizonte teams played in the Arena do Jacaré, located in nearby city Sete 💵 Lagoas.
[3] In 2012, the renovation was completed and América Mineiro returned to its original home venue, which is being also 💵 used to host games of Atlético Mineiro.[4]
1950 FIFA World Cup [ edit ]
In the 1950 FIFA World Cup, the Independência 💵 hosted three matches in the group stage, including the notable upset United States vs England.
References [ edit ]
