Estadio Nacional de Chile

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Estadio Nacional
Image:Estadio Nacional de Chile.jpg
Full name	Estadio Nacional de Chile
Nickname	El Nacional
Built	1937-38
Opened	1938
Capacity	76500
Home of	Chile National Team Universidad de Chile
Pitch size	105 x 68 mt

The Estadio Nacional de Chile is the national stadium of Chile. It is located in the comuna (municipality) of Ñuñoa in Santiago, Chile. It is the largest stadium in Chile with an official capacity of 76,500, and is part of a large sporting complex which also features a tennis court/stadiums, swimming pools, as the sport is and a modern gymnasium.

Construction began in February of 1937 and the stadium was inaugurated on December 3, 1938. The architecture was based on the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany. The stadium became infamous after it was used as a concentration camp by the military regime following the Chilean coup of 1973.

1 History
2 Use as Concentration Camp
3 External links
4 References

[edit] History

Image:Estadio nacional-Chile.jpg

It is used mostly for football matches and was one of the four venues of the 1962 World Cup, hosting the opening game, a quarterfinal, a semifinal, the third-place match, and the final. As such, it was the where theChile obtained the 3rd place in the World Cup after beating Yugoslavia 1-0 on 16 June 1962. Today, the Estadio Nacional serves as the home field for both the national team and South American giant, Universidad de Chile. It also holds some big non-sporting events such as political celebrations or charity spectacles.

[edit] Use as Concentration Camp

The Estadio Nacional was used during the Chilean coup of 1973 as a concentration camp holding 40,000 prisoners, between September and November of that year. The field and gallery were used to hold male prisoners, while female prisoners were held in the swimming pool changing rooms and associated buildings. Locker rooms and corridors were used to torture and murder prisoners, while interrogations were carried out in the velodrome.

It is sometimes mistakenly believed that Chilean folk singer and political activist Victor Jara was murdered at Estadio Nacional. He was actually murdered at the Estadio Chile, which was renamed in his honor in 2003. <ref>http://www.nataliprize.com/sangredeunpoeta.php</ref>.

The documentary film, Estadio Nacional, was based on the stadium and its use as a concentration camp.