Login
login / signup
Centenario Stadium wasn’t completed in time for the first-ever World Cup match in 1930. It was, however, ready for Uruguay’s World Cup victory – and today, beneath its pitch, students attend a fully operational primary school.
When Uruguay was selected to host the first World Cup, they promised to build a stadium worthy of a tournament that had never been attempted before. The timing could hardly have been better: Uruguay was celebrating the 100th anniversary of its constitution (hence, Estadio Centenario) and was the globe’s first football superpower, following gold medals at the 1924 and 1928 Olympics.
Concrete work began just five months before the first match, turning construction into a race against the clock. Greek, Italian, and Yugoslav immigrants worked into the night, each bringing different languages, backgrounds, and presumably plenty of opinions about how the stadium should be built. Architect Juan Antonio Scasso called the multilingual worksite the “Tower of Babel.
Scasso’s sweeping, circular layout is crowned by the Torre de los Homenajes, with nine balconies to echo the nine stripes of Uruguay’s flag and nautical imagery to reflect the immigrant legacy of both Uruguay and the stadium. His choice to name two grandstands Colombes and Amsterdam added a not-so-subtle flex, referencing the sites where Uruguay won its consecutive Olympic golds.
But the World Cup arrived before Scasso’s stadium did. Heavy rains delayed construction and sent the first matches to neighboring stadiums in Montevideo. Once it opened, the Centenario quickly became Uruguay’s good-luck charm.
Uruguay won all three of its group-stage matches at the stadium, outscoring opponents by a combined 10–1. But it trailed Argentina 2–1 at halftime in the final. Uruguay stormed back to win 4–2 and take home the first-ever World Cup, perhaps propelled by the reported 93,000 fans who packed the Centenario and turned a football match into a national celebration far bigger than the game itself.
The 1930 World Cup wasn’t Uruguay’s last glory at the Centenario. Uruguay won the Mundialito (Little World Cup) there in 1981; lifted Copa América trophies at the Centenario in 1942, 1956, 1967, and 1995; and, to this day, has never lost a Copa América match at its home field.
Football may be the Centenario’s main event, but it’s hardly the only act. Julio Iglesias, the Rolling Stones, One Direction, and Pope John Paul II have all performed – or, in the Pope’s case, said Mass – at the stadium. Under the pitch sits a football museum.
In 1983, FIFA awarded the Centenario the distinction of “Historical Monument of World Football,” signaling that the stadium is not just a home for Uruguayan football, but a landmark for the game itself. No other stadium on the globe has yet earned that distinction.
In 2030, the Centenario will celebrate its centenary alongside the tournament it helped turn from an experimental competition into a global event watched by billions. The 2030 World Cup will be held in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, but one match featuring Uruguay will be held at Estadio Centenario – bringing the World Cup back to its first home.
