Almost in parallel with FIFA’s official announcement of the designation of Argentina as the host country of the U-20 Soccer World Cup, the four where the 52 matches of the competition will be played were also known. And a good part of those matches, a total of 18, including the final, will be played at the Estadio Único “Diego Armando Maradona” in our city. In this way, La Plata will be the venue with the greatest number of matches and by hosting the grand final it will also concentrate all the eyes of the world of football.
Within this framework, a flood of visitors to the city of the diagonals is expected, both Argentines who will arrive from other parts of the country and those fans who will come from other latitudes to support their teams.
In this sense, the City has expanded its hotel capacity in recent years, even with an even larger space than the one it presented in the 2011 Copa América, when the Único, among other matches, was the scene of a National Team match. Local authorities highlighted, for example, the recent arrival of large hotel chains such as Howard Johnson, Gran Briz, Land Plaza and Days Inn, which offer quality hotel service both in the historic center of the City and in points on the outskirts that favor access to La Plata.}
The City also has a wide gastronomic proposal, encouraged by the rise of craft breweries and by the trajectory of its traditional restaurants, in addition to those firms that, although they were born not long ago, offer very attractive menus for tourism. Diagonal 74, the microcentro, City Bell and Meridiano V are emerging as the points of visit in the order of gastronomy.
For some time now, the Estadio Único la Ciudad has received international mega-bands such as The Rolling Stones, U2 and Metallica, among many others, matches of the National Team and even a superclassic between Boca and River was defined for the Argentine Cup.
Visitors will also be able to visit its main commercial points in La Plata such as Calle 8, Calle 12, City Bell and Los Hornos, where there are plenty of clothing stores but also cafeterias, pizzerias and different food offers to liven up those moments.
In this way, La Plata is preparing to be the main venue of the world contest, whose last edition was held in Poland, in 2019. It should be noted that in 2021 the competition was to take place in Indonesia but was stopped as a result of the Covid pandemic -19. In the European country, the matches were played in small modern redoubts but with a capacity of not much more than 20,000 spectators, the final being played at the Lodz stadium, located in Bydgoszcz. Due to its characteristics and to the fact that it has an athletics track, as well as football, it is common for different Olympic activities to take place there.
Match schedule in La Plata
The U-20 World Cup ball will begin to roll with the opening match to be played on Saturday, May 20 at the Madre de Ciudades Stadium in Santiago del Estero. For that date, two Group A matches are scheduled for Argentina, which must debut against Uzbekistan. And the other two venues will be the Mendoza Stadium (Malvinas Argentinas) and the San Juan Bicentennial. As said, a good part of the fixture will take place in La Plata, where on Sunday, June 11, the final whistle of the contest will take place and the new world champion of the category will emerge.
The Estadio Único “Diego Maradona” will be the venue with the largest capacity of the World Cup, with the possibility of accommodating up to 53,000 spectators. Then follow in order the one in Mendoza with 42,000 places available and the Santiago del Estero, which originally has a capacity for 30,000 fans but for special occasions the seats can be removed to increase the capacity up to a capacity of 42,000 people. Meanwhile, the Bicentennial of San Juan can receive 25 thousand fans.
Match schedule in La Plata
Sunday May 21: Israel vs. Colombia
Sunday May 21: Senegal vs. Japan
Monday May 22: England vs. Tunisia
Monday May 22: Uruguay vs. iraq
Wednesday May 24 Senegal vs. Israel
Wednesday May 24: Japan vs. Colombia
Thursday May 25: Uruguay vs. England
Thursday May 25: Iraq vs. Tunisia
Saturday, May 27: Brazil vs. Nigeria
Saturday May 27: Colombia vs. Senegal
Sunday May 28: Iraq vs. England
Sunday May 28: Honduras vs. France
Wednesday May 31: round of 16 (1D vs. 3B/E/F)
Wednesday May 31: round of 16 (1E vs 2D)
Thursday June 8: semifinal 1
Thursday June 8: semifinal 2
Sunday June 11: third place
Sunday June 11: final
