Estádio Olímpico Monumental – stadium description

When architect Plinio Oliveira Almeida was selected to design the future stadium of Grêmio back in 1950, he couldn’t have expected that his work will take 30 years.  But this was the case despite the stadium having opened in 1954 and being in constant use.

When inaugurated, not all stands were in place, which was still enough for the ground to be considered the world’s largest private stadium. Only in 1980 the last part of upper tier was added, enclosing the stadium and finishing Almeida’s work.

It held a variety of events, with concerts and 1963 Universiade, but without a doubt football was always the most important one. In 1980s games used to attract well over 80,000 people, with record standing unofficially at over 98,000 (paid attendance was 85,751).

Due to their “Olympic” shape, stands are quite distant from the pitch, reaching 40 meters at furthest. Adding to that low slope of the stands, this isn’t a perfect sightline stadium, but turned out ideal to grow the world’s most famous avalanche. This kind of goal celebration, in which fans run down the stands all at once, was quite common in Latin America, but didn’t last in Brazil. Apart from this stadium that is. Over the years and despite regulation tightening, avalanche became a worthy part of Grêmio’s identity.

Officially the last game at this stadium was held in December 2012, when Grêmio took archrivals Internacional in the famous GreNal derby. But the stadium was in use for months to come, despite Grêmio’s first team moving to their new arena. Eventually, the stadium is expected to be demolished, making way for a commercial development.