Estadio José María Minella

The Estadio José María Minella is a stadium in Mar del Plata, Argentina. It is owned and administrated by the Municipality of General Pueyrredón.HistoryArgentina was chosen as the host 1978 World Cup of the nation by FIFA in London, England on 6 July 1966, and Mar del Plata, as one of the most touristic cities in the country, was selected as a venue. The organizing committee, under supervision of the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina since 1976, decided to build a new stadium on the same spot as 40 years earlier it had been the Mar del Plata hippodrome. The construction began in 1976 and the stadium was opened on May 21, 1978 with a friendly match between a team formed by players from Mar del Plata and another one with players from Tandil.The sports journalist Mario Trucco proposed the name to honour José María Minella, a renowned former midfielder from Mar del Plata, who played during the 1930s and 1940s for the Club Atlético River Plate and the Argentina national football team, and later manager of the River Plate team from 1945 to 1959 in what became one of the team's most successful eras.During the 1978 World Cup Mar del Plata hosted six Fifa World Cup matches, three Group 1 and three Group 3 matches.