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General Santander Stadium or Estadio General Santander is a renowned stadium used for many different purposes. The stadium is located in Cucuta, Colombia.
With a seating capacity of 42,901, the stadium stands at the fifth position in the list of the largest football stadiums in Colombia.
In the past few years, the stadium has mostly been used for football matches. It is used for association and most of the football games of the club Cucuta Deportivo are played here. The stadium has been serving as a home ground for this club for quite a time now.
History
The construction of this stadium started in 1948 and it did not take much time for it to complete. The stadium was opened in the same year and has been named in the honor of Francisco de Paula Santander, who was an active political and military leader for Colombia in the early 19th century.
He was also the acting president of Gran Colombia between 1819 and 1826. Over the years, there have been several changes made in the stadium. Since its establishment, the stadium has been renovated two times, first in 1989 and then again in 2006.
Controversies
Every football stadium has been a witness to many controversies and so has this stadium. In 2011, in a match between Cucuta Deportivo and Envigado, the Colombian fans managed to smuggle in a coffin containing a real corpse in to the stadium.
The police had opened the gates 15 minutes before the end of the match and that’s when this incident occurred. The fans even took the coffin to the terraces. This was quite an unusual sight for everyone and even the policemen were shocked.
Recent Matches
One of the recent major matches played at this stadium is Cucuta Deportivo vs Deportes Tolima
The match was very special for the club as they were participating in the Copa Libertadores for the first time and this was their first game in the championship.
Although the match ended in a draw as both the teams were unable to score a goal, the match still marked a new beginning for the club. Another recent major game is Cucuta vs Gremio, 2007. This match was another group stage match of the 2007 Copa Libertadores league. The club had lost their previous match against Cerro Porteno by 2-1. They rebounded in this match and registered a big win at home for the first time in this league with a score of 3-1.
