Guatemala
Estadio Mateo Flores
Estadio Mateo Flores is known as the national stadium of Guatemala. It was built in 1948 to host the 1950 Central American and Caribbean Games, and was renamed after long-distance runner Mateo Flores, winner of the 1952 Boston Marathon. It has a capacity of 30 000 seats.
Used mostly for football matches, the stadium has hosted the majority of the home matches of the Guatemala national football team throughout its history, and is the home of Comunicaciones and CSD Municipal.
One of the worst disasters ever to occur in a sports venue took place at the stadium in 1996, when 83 people were killed due to a human avalanche on the stands. It was just before the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification match between Guatemala and Costa Rica. The sale of counterfeit tickets led to the excess of attending public, and the improper design of the building in the event of an emergency caused the fans to stampede and fall onto each other, causing many people to suffocate.
