Boca Juniors unveils 80,000-capacity La Bombonera expansion plan

Club president Juan Román Riquelme has confirmed that Boca Juniors will embark upon a major expansion of its legendary La Bombonera stadium in a bid to raise its capacity to around 80,000 fans. 

The plans, which leaked online earlier this week, would modernise the stadium, increase its footprint and lift its current capacity of 57,000 spectators.

Speaking in an interview on Boca’s official website, Riquelme outlined plans to remodel La Bombonera, including the construction of a fourth upper tier of seating and two new sections of platea-style stands that will replace the current box area, which will be demolished and rebuilt. The project also includes the partial roofing of the club’s famous terraces.

“It’s the first time I feel we’re close to being able to fulfil the dream of Boca fans, which is to make our home bigger,” said the club’s current president and former playing idol. 

Riquelme said that the project had received an initial permit from Ferrosur, the company responsible for the railway line that runs just metres from the Xeneize’s stadium.

The expansion plans include the construction of four towers with lifts to transport supporters to the new fourth tier. This requires construction permits from the railway operator next to the stadium – where freight trains pass – as well as authorisation from the Comisión Nacional de Regulación del Transporte.

“We’re not going to move even a centimetre, as the opposition said it would do by building the stadium 100 metres away. La Bombonera cannot be moved from here – they shouldn’t lie to the fans,” Riquelme stressed, dismissing alternative ideas to expand the ground or even build a new one.

In the lead-up to his election at the end of 2023, Riquelme had reportedly promised to speak with residents living behind the box section of La Bombonera about purchasing their homes, with the aim of building a new stand on that land.

“Afterwards, once we won, I said I didn’t have the right to tell anyone to leave their home,” he explained Friday. 

“Time passed and the fans need to know something: there’s a law covering 15 or 20 houses that have been declared heritage sites by the City of Buenos Aires [government]. Those houses can’t be touched. Nothing can be done there,” he explained, referring to the impossibility of expanding into the stadium’s southern side.

“We want to do things properly. It might take a little longer, but we were clear with the fans and we won’t promise something we can’t deliver. La Bombonera is the most beautiful stadium in the world. It’s the only stadium that moves – as a footballer you can feel it. When we took over, the truth is, it had been abandoned,” added the Xeneize chief.

Riquelme said the new version of the stadium would be "on the level of a European stadium, as it should be."

He also ruled out the possibility that the renovation work would be financed by a foreign company, adding: “La Bombonera is ours.”

The renovation of one of South America’s most iconic stadiums has long been a pending issue for Boca’s leadership for decades. 

Club officials have struggled for years to find viable ways to expand the capacity of the home of one of Argentina’s most popular clubs, which also enjoys global recognition.

– TIMES/AFP