The National Stadium of El Salvador (Spanish: Estadio Nacional de El Salvador) is a 50,000-seat multi-purpose stadium under construction in Antiguo Cuscatlรกn, El Salvador intended as a replacement for the El Salvador national football team's current stadium, Estadio Cuscatlรกn. The stadium is being built on the site of the former Captain General Gerardo Barrios Military School. The construction of the US$500 million stadium began on 8 September 2022. It will be the second modern sport and event arena to be built in Central America.[1]
 The stadium under construction in 2026 | |
 Interactive map of National Stadium of El Salvador | |
| Location | Antiguo Cuscatlรกn |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 13ยฐ40โฒ56โณN 89ยฐ15โฒ12โณW๏ปฟ / ๏ปฟ13.68222ยฐN 89.25333ยฐW |
| Owner | Government of El Salvador |
| Operator | INDES |
| Capacity | 50,000 |
| Surface | GrassMaster |
| Scoreboard | Yes |
| Construction | |
| Brokeย ground | 8 September 2022 |
| Opened | 2027 (planned) |
Construction cost | US$500 million |
Project manager | Government of El Salvador |
General contractor | China State Construction Engineering Corporation(Group) Co., Ltd. |
| Tenants | |
| El Salvador national football team (from 2027) | |
Once built it will have a hotel outside the stadium, auditorium, medical clinic, rooms inside the stadium, administrative offices, and a multi-sports area outside the stadium with beach soccer, basketball courts, fast football fields and a parking area for 2,000 vehicles.[2][3]
Funding and construction
editThe initial cost was $100 million, it grew to $500 million.[4]
The Chinese government will finance the construction of the stadium in its totality, along with its furnishing, and assume all other costs.[2]
The construction of the stadium formed part of the agreements signed between the presidents of El Salvador and China, Nayib Bukele and Xi Jinping, respectively, during Jinpings' first visit to the Central American country in 2019.
On 1 April 2022, the Chinese embassy in San Salvador announced that the Specific Delegation Group of China Aviation Planning and Design Institute (Group) Co., Ltd. signed the minutes of foreign conversation on research and design of the stadium project with the INDES representative.[3]
On 16 May 2022, the Chinese embassy announced the start date of construction.[5][6]
On 8 June 2022, demolition of the Captain General Gerardo Barrios Military School started.[7][8]
On 8 September 2022, the stadium broke ground.[4]
On 30 November 2023, just before taking a presidential leave of absence to participate in the 2024 presidential election, Bukele laid the first stone of the stadium for construction to begin, together with the Ambassador of China in El Salvador, Zhang Yanhui.[9]
The Chinese company China State Construction Engineering Corporation (Group) Co., Ltd is in charge of the construction of the stadium.[10][11]
References
edit- ^ "El Salvador Introduced the development of a brand new stadium". Daily News Day. 31 December 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
- ^ a b "Estadio que construirรก China en El Salvador costarรญa $100 millones" (in Spanish). El Grafico. 31 December 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
- ^ a b "Construcciรณn de nuevo estadio es considerada de alto impacto ambiental". Gato Encerrado (in Spanish). 12 August 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
- ^ a b "Republic of El Salvador: The construction of Estadio Nacional begins!". StadiumDB.com. 8 September 2022. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
- ^ "Revelan fecha de construcciรณn de nuevo estadio en El Salvador". Diario AS (in Spanish). 17 May 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
- ^ "Nuevo Estadio Nacional de El Salvador: revelan cuรกndo iniciarรกn las obras" (in Spanish). Fรบtbol Centroamรฉrica. 19 May 2022. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
- ^ "Inicia la demoliciรณn de la Escuela Militar Gerardo Barrios para la construcciรณn del nuevo Estadio Nacional". La Prensa Grรกfica (in Spanish). 8 June 2022. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
- ^ "El Salvador demuele su Escuela Militar para construir un estadio donado por China" (in Spanish). infodefensa.com. 12 June 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
- ^ "Estadio Nacional". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 2023-12-01. [betterย sourceย needed]
- ^ "Representante de empresa china firma proyecto del nuevo Estadio Nacional de El Salvador" (in Spanish). ennewssv.com. 3 April 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
- ^ "Representante de empresa china firma acta de conversaciรณn exterior para el diseรฑo del nuevo Estadio Nacional de El Salvador". Diario La Pรกgina (in Spanish). 2 April 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
