Last month, a spectacular new soccer stadium – Estadio de Fútbol Monterrey - for CF Monterrey in Mexico was finally given the green light following three years of controversy due to the stadium’s possible environmental impact on the adjacent Parque La Pastora. Construction is expected to begin in October, to be completed in time for the team to begin play in 2014.
The stadium’s capacity will be 52,000, a big step-up from CF Monterrey’s current home, the rented Estadio Tecnológico, which holds about 32,000. Backed by the money of FEMSA, the largest beverage company in Latin America, CF Monterrey’s new stadium ought to give them a shot at establishing themselves as a permanently elite club in Mexico, building on the success of recent years backed with FEMSA’s cash: they won the Mexican championship in both 2009 and 2010, doubling the number of league titles they had won since their formation in 1945.
The design, by Populous, is extremely similar to one envisaged in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Its “saddle” shape is said to be drawn from the stadium’s position in the foothill of the stunning saddle-shaped Cerro de la Silla mountain and will allow for a stunning view of its neighbor.
Photo credit: Darijus Strasunskas
In fact, both the stadium and the mountain are located in Guadelope, a neighboring city of Monterrey and part of the greater Monterrey municipality).
Perhaps the best news: unlike the recently built and comparable Estadio Omnilife belonging to Club Deportivo Guadalajara, the pitch will be real grass and not artificial turf.
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I think you mean the Aviva stadium in Dublin, not one in Belfast. Populous designed Aviva….
Kevin, nope, I did mean Belfast.
Populous (when they were HOK Sport) had a very similar design for the since scrapped project in Northern Ireland. It does have a passing resemblance to the Aviva as well though, also a Populous project as you mention.