Estadio Ciudad de los Deportes

The Estadio Ciudad de los Deportes is the former Estadio Azul. It used to host the football club Cruz Azul. Slated to be demolished upon the departure of that club, it’s since become home to the Atlante Football Club.

The venue has a capacity for 36,681 people. It was designed by the engineer Modesto C. Rolland. Somewhat unusually, the playing field is well beneath the street and surrounding ground area. That means, the stands don’t rise quite so high into the area as is common in many stadiums of this size and larger. Construction began in 1944. That’s lifetimes ago. And it existed for three years before the demolition of José Villagran‘s magnificent National Stadium.

The stadium opened in October of 1946. It was called the Estadio Olímpico de la Ciudad de los Deportes. The stadium was then the site of hundreds of events over the next 80-odd years.

The stadium has been home field to the multiple football clubs. It’s been abandoned, re-opened, and closed again multiple times.  It’s also lent its name to the surrounding neighborhood, while adopting dozens of other names itself. Originally intended to be a neighborhood with the stadium, the bullring, and multiple other sports facilities, only these two were ever built. Still, it’s a remarkable part of Mexico City history.