History
The opening game was between Club América and Torino F.C. on May 29, 1966, with seats for 107,494 spectators. The first goal was scored by Brazilian Arlindo Dos Santos Cruz and the second one by Brazilian José Alves "Zague"; later, the Italians tied the game, which ended 2–2. Mexican president Gustavo Díaz Ordaz made the initial kick and FIFA president Sir Stanley Rous was the witness.
A modern illumination system was inaugurated on June 5, 1966 with the first night game between Valencia C.F. and Necaxa. The first goal of the game was scored by Honduran José Cardona. In this game Roberto Martínez o Caña Brava scored the first goal made by a Mexican. The final score was 3–1 in favor of Valencia C.F..
There is a commemorative plaque with the names of the first goal scorer in the first daylight match and in the first night game.
Estadio Azteca is also the site in which Pelé and Diego Maradona (during the 1970 and 1986 FIFA World Cup) lifted the trophy for the last time (The Jules Rimet Trophy and the current FIFA World Cup Trophy, respectively).
The stadium has also hosted international club tournaments such at the Copa InterAmericana and the Copa Libertadores de América.
Mexico have historically had a significant home-field advantage at the stadium. They were 23–0–1 against the United States until August 2012 when the US won a friendly 1–0.
Estadio Azteca has also been used for musical performances throughout its history. Michael Jackson (5 sold-out shows in 1993), U2 (in 2006 and 2011), Luis Miguel (in 2002), Elton John, Maná, Juan Gabriel, Gloria Estefan, Jaguares, Lenny Kravitz, *Nsync, Hanson, Ana Gabriel, and The Three Tenors all have become part of the stadium's main spectacle. The stadium has also been used for political events, including Mexican president Felipe Calderón's campaign closure in 2006, as well as religious events, like the appearance of Pope John Paul II in 1999.
Read more about this topic: Estadio Azteca
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The thing that struck me forcefully was the feeling of great age about the place. Standing on that old parade ground, which is now a cricket field, I could feel the dead generations crowding me. Here was the oldest settlement of freedmen in the Western world, no doubt. Men who had thrown off the bands of slavery by their own courage and ingenuity. The courage and daring of the Maroons strike like a purple beam across the history of Jamaica.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“Social history might be defined negatively as the history of a people with the politics left out.”
—G.M. (George Macaulay)
“A great proportion of the inhabitants of the Cape are always thus abroad about their teaming on some ocean highway or other, and the history of one of their ordinary trips would cast the Argonautic expedition into the shade.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)