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Estadio Hernán Ramírez Villegas is a stadium in Pereira, Colombia. It’s located in the Villa Olímpica (Olympic Village) neighborhood on the west side of the city near the airport.
History of Estadio Hernán Ramírez Villegas
Estadio Hernán Ramírez Villegas opened on May 1, 1971, with a football tournament. It was designed by architect Hernán Ramírez Villegas and structural engineer Guillermo González Zuleta (1916-1995). A statue of Father Antonio José Valencia, who spearheaded the construction of the Olympic Village, stands outside.
The stadium was remodeled in 2011 and several upgrades were made. This included adding a second tier to the east stands, replacing bleachers with seats, covering 90% of the seats with a roof, new lighting and acoustics, and adding a press room and VIP rooms.
Features of Estadio Hernán Ramírez Villegas
The stadium has four sets of stands: north, south, east, and west. The east and west stands have two tiers. A handful of VIP rooms are between the two tiers on the west stands. A Deportivo Pereira team store selling jerseys, clothing, and other items is outside of the west stands.
There are 30 access points and 2 small digital screens above the north and south stands. The screens are too small to utilize for replays, statistics, or showing the game. There are good views of the field, but the running track puts a lot of distance between the fans and the field.
The concourse lacks any charm or character, and is a simple concrete structure with the sole purpose of getting people into the stadium and to their seats. Bathrooms are terrible, sometimes with no running water and some of the sinks don’t even have faucets. Furthermore, spectators must pay to use the bathrooms.
Concession stands usually have a good variety of delicious Colombian street food, sandwiches, hot dogs, and other treats available. The queues can get ridiculous, especially at halftime.
Events at Estadio Hernán Ramírez Villegas
The stadium is mostly used for football but is also the premier concert venue for Pereira. It’s the home stadium of Deportivo Pereira men’s and women’s football teams and can hold almost 30,300 people.
Personally, I’ve seen Marc Anthony there twice as well as Romeo Santos. For sporting events, I saw the 2020 CONMEBOL Olympic qualifiers for men’s football and Deportivo Pereira play Boca Juniors in the 2023 Copa Libertadores group stage.
My Thoughts on the Stadium
The stadium overall is in great need of modernization all around. With a few cosmetic changes and fixing things like the bathrooms, attending an event there can be much more enjoyable. In spite of that, it’s still a fantastic place to watch a game, especially when it’s full.
