(pictured in 1952), who had an over 60 year career before his passing in 2008. The stadium was built on former farmland, donated in 1918 by landowner and philanthropist Jose Domingo Cañas. The first sporting event in the new stadium took place on 3 December 1938, with a friendly game between the Chilean club
Colo-Colo and Brazilian club
São Cristóvão, with the former winning 6–3. It has hosted all matches of the
1941,
1945 and
1955 South American Football Championships, and several matches of the
1991 and
2015 Copa América. The stadium hosted the final stages of the
1959 World Basketball Championship. It was held outdoors because the intended venue, the
Metropolitan Indoor Stadium, was not ready in time. In the early 1960s, under the government of
Jorge Alessandri, the stadium was expanded to host the
1962 FIFA World Cup. The main modification was replacing the velodrome that surrounded the stadium with galleries, thereby increasing its capacity to around 95,000. The stadium hosted group stage games between
Italy,
West Germany,
Switzerland and Chile, including a notoriously ill-tempered and violent clash between Italy and Chile which became known as the
Battle of Santiago. A quarter-final, a semi-final, the third place play-off, and the final were also held at the ground, where Brazil was crowned world champions for the second time. In the third-place play-off, Chile defeated
Yugoslavia 1–0, marking the team's greatest success in international football. Today, the ground serves as the home field for both the national team and the first-division club
Universidad de Chile. It also hosts non-sporting events, such as political celebrations, charity events and concerts. The stadium had been used since 1995 as the final leg of the
Teletón with
Don Francisco, a 28-hour telecast. The stadium holds up to 100,000 people for this annual event with the Jumbotron showing the required amount required to reach the goal and the current donation level. Exceptions were in 2014 and 2020; the first one was canceled due to bad weather conditions and the second due to the protection after
the social outbreak. On July 5, 2008, the stadium was officially renamed
Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos, in honor of
Julio Martínez, a Chilean sports commentator specializing in football who had a long career in the written press, radio and television, who had died in January of the same year.
Use as a detention center After the
coup d'état of September 11, 1973, that ousted President
Salvador Allende, the stadium began to be used as a detention facility. An article in the
Harvard Review of Latin America reported that "there were over 80 detention centers in Santiago alone" and gave details of the National Stadium and others. Between 12,000 and 20,000 people spent time in the compound during the
junta regime. Twelve thousand detainees were interned between September 11 and November 7. The field and gallery were used to hold men, while women were held in the
swimming pool changing rooms and associated buildings. Locker rooms and corridors were all used as prison facilities while interrogations were carried out in the
velodrome. The Red Cross estimated that 7,000 prisoners occupied the stadium at one point, of whom about 300 were foreigners. According to the testimonies of survivors collected by the humanitarian group, detainees were tortured and threatened with death by shooting. Some were actually shot or taken to unknown locations for execution. Members of the junta would often take turns hollering and swearing at the detainees over the stadium's
public address system.
FIFA President
Sir Stanley Rous insisted the
USSR team play
a World Cup qualifier at the time. They however refused to do so and
Chile qualified automatically for the
1974 World Cup, where they failed to advance from a group containing both
West and
East Germany and
Australia. The use of the stadium during the coup d'état is depicted in the 2002
documentary film Estadio Nacional, directed and produced by
Carmen Luz Parot, and in the 2007 Swedish film
The Black Pimpernel, which is based on the story of Swedish ambassador in Chile
Harald Edelstam and his heroic actions to protect the lives of over 1,200 people during and after the military coup.
The Black Pimpernel was shot on location in Santiago. The 1982 film
Missing by Greek filmmaker
Costa-Gavras depicts the September 11, 1973, coup d'état and execution of American journalists
Charles Horman and
Frank Teruggi at the Estadio Nacional. In 2011, Chile set aside a section of the stadium, a section of old wooden bleachers called , to honor the prisoners who were detained there. It is surrounded by a barbed wire fence.
2009–2010 renovation farewell match, June 2, 2009 On June 15, 2009, President
Michelle Bachelet announced several infrastructure improvements in order to modernize the stadium and its immediate facilities. Out of the total 24 billion
pesos (US$42.3 million) contemplated in the plan, 20 billion pesos (US$35.3 million) are destined to bring the stadium up to modern standards. The changes include, a roof covering all the seats, which will also provide illumination; installation of seats around the entire stadium, lowering the current capacity to 47,000; a new state-of-the-art
scoreboard; a 2.5 m deep 2 m wide pit will separate the track and the spectators to replace the fence; and several other changes. Because the stadium is a
national monument the façade will remain the same, with the roof structure placed on top, without modifying the exterior. The stadium was closed on August 15, 2009. The stadium was scheduled to be reinaugurated in March 2010 to stage a double friendly match between Chile and
North Korea and
Panama, but the works were not finished on time. The construction of the roof has since been postponed by the government of President
Sebastián Piñera due to financial constraints brought about by the
February 27, 2010 earthquake. Although the stadium suffered minor damage from the earthquake, it partially opened to host the match between
C.F. Universidad de Chile and
C.D. Guadalajara for
Copa Libertadores 2010. It was officially re-inaugurated on September 12, 2010, during Chile's bicentennial festivities.
2014 South American Games renovation On September 12, 2010, during the Chilean bicentennial festivities, President
Sebastián Piñera announced that the capacity of the stadium will be increased so as to reach 70,000 seats for the
2014 South American Games that took place in Santiago. The works started in 2012. On June 3, 2011, further renovation plans were announced by the government. The complete area surrounding the stadium will be turned into a park to be called "Citizenry Park" (
Parque de la Ciudadanía). Over 70% of the new 64-hectare park will consist of green areas, and the rest will include new infrastructure such as a lagoon or restaurants. The park was expected to be ready for the 2014 games. New sporting venues were built for the 2014 games, such as two modern gymnasiums, a new heated pool for
synchronized swimming, a renovated velodrome and an expanded CAR, which will also serve as residence of the future Ministry of Sports. The only venues that will remain are the stadium, the main tennis court, the velodrome, the CAR, the athletics track, the skating track, the hockey field and the
caracolas.
2023 renovation and Sports Park The Estadio Nacional Sports Park was conceived under the improvements of the venue in preparations for the
2023 Pan American Games, and included the building of infrastructure for high impact sports and recreative activities, opened in 2023. ==Attendances==