Design & Development

Boca details plans for sports complex

Images: Boca Juniors

Argentine Primera División football club Boca Juniors has presented plans for a “micro-stadium” and sports centre project, as it continues with efforts to improve its infrastructure.

Boca has released renderings of the scheme via its social media channels. The club said: “We work so that this 2025 amateur sports can have their micro-stadium. We have already submitted the project to the (Buenos Aires) City Government and we are moving forward to make it a reality.”

Infobae said the complex will be built in the La Boca neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, adjacent to the Benito Quinquela Martín sports centre. The main structure would have capacity for more than 3,000 spectators and will be covered.

In addition, a second covered building will be utilised for teams to train, while the complex will include a gym and commercial premises. The project is intended to cater to sports such as futsal, basketball, volleyball and handball.

Boca legend, Juan Román Riquelme, is now at the helm as president, with one of the key goals of his administration being to improve facilities across a number of sports. In October, Boca saw a major impediment to its ambitions of enhancing its main stadium removed with the Buenos Aires City Legislature electing to exclude the facility from the list of protected properties in the capital.

The authority announced Estadio Alberto José Armando, more commonly known as La Bombonera, as one of four sports facilities removed from the 4,300-strong list, the others being Estadio Mâs Monumental, the home of arch rival River Plate, and two properties belonging to fellow Primera División outfit, Club Atlético Huracán.

The four facilities were proposed to be added to the list, which in Boca’s case would have prevented any significant structural modification if La Bombonera was declared a protected historical monument.

In recent years, many proposals have come to light to either expand the historic 57,000-capacity stadium, which last received significant renovation in 1996, or build a new home for Boca.

In August 2023, Boca made the first significant formal move to expand its stadium, by submitting a proposal to the Legislature. Former president, Jorge Amor Ameal, lodged a proposal with the City seeking the green light to pursue a project that would expand capacity to 82,000.

Although this project died with Ameal’s exit, Infobae said Riquelme’s team is working on an expansion scheme, with the club seeking to raise funds so an announcement can be made.