Estádio São Januário

Estádio São Januário

Estádio da Colina
Full name	Estádio Vasco da Gama
Location	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Coordinates	22°53′27.30″S 43°13′41.71″W / 22.8909167°S 43.2282528°W / -22.8909167; -43.2282528
Owner	Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama
Operator	Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama
Capacity	21,880[1]
Record attendance	40,209 (Vasco da Gama 0–2 Londrina, February 19, 1978)[2]
Field size	105 m × 68 m (344 ft × 223 ft)
Surface	Grass
Construction
Built	1926-1927
Opened	April 21, 1927[3]
Renovated	2006, 2012
Architect	Ricardo Severo
Tenants
Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama

Estádio Vasco da Gama, also known as Estádio São Januário, owing to its location on a street of the same name, is the home ground of Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama. Its facade is listed by the National Historical and Artistic Heritage.

It is located in the Vasco da Gama neighborhood, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on a hill near the National Observatory of Brazil. Because of its position it is often referred to as Estádio da Colina (Hill's Stadium) which in turn has given Vasco the nickname of Gigante da Colina (Hill's Giant). It is one of the few Association Football specific stadiums in the world which has both team benches and coaching areas behind the goal line at the same end of the field.

The stadium had a capacity of 25.000 and it was inaugurated on April 21, 1927, with the presence of Washington Luís, Brazilian president in that time. The first event held in the stadium was a match between Vasco and Santos, which Santos won. The stadium stands as the biggest private venue in the State of Rio de Janeiro.

This stadium has also historic importance, because Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas used it many times to do deliver speeches to the Brazilian people. Vargas announced the first Brazilian work laws on the tribune of São Januário.

Vasco da Gama, owner of São Januário, is the only Rio de Janeiro big football club to have its private stadium. Other big clubs (as Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo) have to rent other places (Flamengo and Fluminense play at Maracanã owned by Rio de Janeiro State and Botafogo plays at Estádio Nilton Santos owned by Rio de Janeiro City).

São Januário Sports Complex

Aquatics centre

The São Januario Aquatics Centre opened on August 30, 1953 and is used by the swimming school. In 1998, it held one event of the FINA Swimming World Cup.

Courts

This stadium has two courts. The first opened on September 23, 1956, and it is the main court. In 1999, this court was remodeled and its capacity increased to 2,500 seats. The second court, denominated forninho ("little oven" in Portuguese), is smaller than main and it's located behind the Aquatic park.

Chapel

A chapel, known in Portuguese as Capela de Nossa Senhora das Vitórias, is located between the stadium and the adjacent aquatic park. The project of this chapel was made by Álvaro Nascimento Rodrigues and José Ribeiro de Paiva and it was opened on August 15, 1955.

The importance of this chapel is so big that many projects to remodel the stadium was discarded just because they considered its demolition.

Trophy room

Located just after the stadium front door, the trophy room has about 8,000 trophies, cup, plates, medals and photos earnings on the whole club's history.^[4]

Largest official attendances

#	Attendance	Home	Result	Away	Date	Tournament	Observation
1	40,209	Vasco da Gama	0–2	Londrina	February 19, 1978	Campeonato Brasileiro
2	36,910	Vasco da Gama	2–2	Vitória	November 21, 1999	Campeonato Brasileiro
3	36,273	Vasco da Gama	2–0	Barcelona de Guayaquil	August 12, 1998	Copa Libertadores	Final's first leg
4	35,308	Vasco da Gama	2–0	Internacional	September 26, 1999	Campeonato Brasileiro
5	34,147	Vasco da Gama	2–1	Ponte Preta	August 20, 2000	Campeonato Brasileiro
6	33,814	Vasco da Gama	1–1	Paraná	September 19, 1999	Campeonato Brasileiro
7	33,516	Vasco da Gama	2–1	Atlético Paranaense	October 31, 1999	Campeonato Brasileiro
8	33.428	Vasco da Gama	2–1	Palmeiras	October 16, 1999	Campeonato Brasileiro
9	33,378	Vasco da Gama	2–0	Fluminense	October 30, 1949	Campeonato Carioca
10	33,330	Vasco da Gama	0–0	Cruzeiro	May 23, 1998	Copa do Brasil
11	32,672	Vasco da Gama	2–1	Flamengo	September 14, 1947	Campeonato Carioca
12	30,254	Vasco da Gama	6–0	Joinville	March 25, 1984	Campeonato Brasileiro

Source:^[5]

Derbies

Until the construction of Maracanã, Vasco used to play the city derbies at São Januário. After Maracanã was opened, in 1950, the derbies moved to there. Since then, though, a few of those derbies have been played at São Januário, mostly when Maracanã was undergoing refurbishing. On February 14, 2016, Vasco return to play a derby in São Januário since 2005, the match was against Flamengo for the Campeonato Carioca, with Vasco winning, 1–0.^[6]

Here is Vasco's home record against its major rivals:

Opponent	G	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD
Fluminense	46	22	13	11	81	56	25
Botafogo	45	18	12	15	68	52	16
Flamengo	35	16	10	9	67	51	16
G – games played; W - wins; L - losses; D - draws; GF – goals for; GA – goals against; GD – goal differential

2011 Military World Games

The São Januario stadium hosted some matches in the men's and women's football tournament at the 5th CISM Military World Games.^[7]

References

External links

Media related to Estádio São Januário at Wikimedia Commons

• (Portuguese) Templos do Futebol
• (Portuguese) World Stadiums
• (Portuguese) NetVasco

Coordinates: 22°53′27.30″S 43°13′41.71″W / 22.8909167°S 43.2282528°W / -22.8909167; -43.2282528