Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez or Estadio Metropolitano, is a football stadium in Barranquilla, Colombia in South America. Commonly referred to as El Metro, this stadium is named in the honour of the footballing legend Roberto Meléndez.
The stadium can seat more than 45,000 people and it is the second largest stadium in Colombia. The stadium is home ground for the national football team of Colombia.
History
In the recent times, football is followed as a religion in South America. Football emerged in the in Colombia in the year 1948 and the authorities realised that they ought to have an arena which is exclusively meant for football.
The construction of El Metro was prolonged for six years. The stadium was inaugurated in the year 1986, followed by a grand opening ceremony.
The first match which was played on the field of El Metro stadium was between the teams Junior and Uruguay national team.
Major Matches
This stadium was a part of the 1992 Colombian National Games. Estadio Metropolitano hosted the Copa América in the year 2001. Six matches took place in the stadium.
The stadium hosted the qualification matches for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and Colombia qualified for the same after 16 years of await. The farewell match for Carlos Valderrama in the year 2004 took place at Estadio Metropolitano.
In 2011, the stadium was also one of the venues for the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Recent Matches
The qualifiers for 2014 FIFA World Cup were held at Estadio Metropolitano and the stadium was jam-packed with 50,000 people as the audience.
