In 1922,
Club Atlético River Plate signed a contract with British company
Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway to rent a land in
Recoleta district. The contract was for a period of 5 years, for
m$n 500 per month. The purpose was to build a stadium to host River Plate home football matches. In May 1923, the stadium was officially inaugurated in occasion of a friendly match between local host River Plate and Uruguayan club
Peñarol. In June 1923, Scottish club
Third Lanark played at River Plate stadium six games of their tour on South America. Then President of Argentina,
Marcelo T. de Alvear, attended the Third Lanark v.
Asociación Amateurs combined match on June 24, 1923. The first official match played by River Plate in that stadium was on July 22, 1923, v.
Vélez Sársfield. River Plate won by 2–1. The venue also hosted the Campeonato Argentino final stage. It was a competition played by Argentine provincial sides. In December 1923, boxer
Luis Ángel Firpo made an exhibition fight v. Joe Boykin. In August 1924 and May 1925, the Asociación Amateurs combined played Federación Uruguaya de Football. Both teams were representatives of dissident associations of both countries. The stadium would be refurbished later, extending its capacity to near 50,000 spectators. The stadium was the venue for several football matches during the tours made by European teams at the end of the 1920s. Some of them were Spanish clubs
Real Madrid (which played their first game v. the
Argentina national team) and
Barcelona Scottish
Motherwell F.C. (one of several
British clubs that toured on South America), ==References==