Design & Development

Club Bolívar to begin work on new stadium

Featured image credit: L35 Arquitectos

Bolivian Primera División football team Club Bolívar is set to begin construction of its new stadium in La Paz on August 1.

The stadium will have a capacity of 20,000, with the club hoping to move in by 2025.

Club Bolívar president Marcelo Claure confirmed on his Twitter account that construction would begin at 5pm local time on August 1, with more details to be announced later.

The club has invited fans to put their names forward for inclusion on a plaque that will feature on the first wall built during the stadium’s construction.

Club Bolívar had its own stadium in the Tembladerani neighbourhood of La Paz, Estadio Libertador Simón Bolívar, but the 5,000-capacity venue was only used for training sessions and friendly matches, with official games held at the 41,000-capacity Estadio Hernando Siles.

In December last year, it emerged that work was set to commence on a new stadium for the club, and construction is finally set to begin next Tuesday.

In January 2021, Club Bolívar revealed a venture designed to mark the team’s centenary in 2025, with the new stadium at the heart of this. The Centenario plan outlined two different schemes, resulting in a stadium with a capacity of either 20,000 or 25,000.

Spanish design studio L35 Arquitectos was chosen to deliver the project in November 2021, following an international competition organised by the club and its partner City Football Group (CFG), the ownership body of English Premier League champion Manchester City.

Ultimately, a 20,000-seat design was chosen that will sit on the site of the Estadio Libertador Simón Bolívar.

Club Bolívar joined the City Football Group family as its first ‘partner club’. Founded in 1925, Club Bolívar boasts 30 domestic league titles, the most of any Bolivian football club. As a partner club, Club Bolívar is able to access a wide breadth of expertise, proprietary technology, best practice, and strategic advice developed by CFG through its multi-club structure.