Estadio Hernando Siles Facebook Page
Club Bolivar Website
The Strongest Website
Bolivian Football Federation Website
Background and history
The Estadio Hernando Siles in La Paz, Bolivia was built in 1930. The stadium is names after the Bolivian president from 1926-1930 Hernando Siles Reyes. This unique stadium has a capacity of 41,143 which makes it the biggest stadium in Bolivia.
The stadium is home to two of Bolivia's top league teams in Club Bolivar and The Strongest. It is also the home stadium for several other smaller teams in Bolivia giving it a whopping total of 9 tenants. This is not including the Bolivian National team who also play there home games here.
The stadium has been the site of historic moments in Bolivian football history, including Bolivia's 2–0 defeat of Brazil in the 1993 qualifiers for World Cup 94, Brazil's first defeat in 40 years of playing the qualifiers. Another similar moment of history occurred on April 1, 2009 when Bolivia defeated Argentina 6–1, inflicting the worst defeat for Argentina in 60 years.
Unique Factor
The Estadio Hernando Siles is unique due to its altitude. The stadium is in the Miraflores borough of La Paz which has an altitude of over 3,600 metres above seal level. In May 2007 FIFA caused controversy by banning stadiums with altitudes greater than 2,500 metres from hosting World Cup Qualification matches which ruled Hernando Siles ineligible, after deeming it an unfair advantage to the home teams.
After appeals, the limit was relaxed to 3,000 metres a few months later with Estadio Hernando Siles receiving special dispensation to host matches as its altitude still exceeded the newly increased limits. Located high up within the mountainous Andes region, some felt that the rule was discriminatory against some South American teams particularly with Bolivia’s failing to qualify for a World Cup since 1994.
The results that the Bolivian National team have had at the stadium do little to quash the claims by other nations that it gives Bolivia an unfair advantage. Looking at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 World Cup Qualifying campaigns all together, Bolivia had a home record of ten home wins and eight home draws, whereas they only managed two away draws with zero away wins in these campaigns. The video below shows the affect the altitude had on Argentina players Angel Di Maria and Lionel Messi in 2013.
The Estadio Hernando Siles gets a unique rating of 8/10 purely due to the affect it has on opposition players as well as results. Bolivia have a pretty average national team but have a remarkable home record which is in complete contrast to their woeful away record. The pitch is over 2 miles above sea level which clearly affects players breathing as can be seen in the video above.
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