Argentina River Plate Club on a roll

Article posted by Coliseum, August 2^nd, 2024

Image: Coliseum GSVA

Ignacio Villarroel is grinning from ear to ear. After all, the ‘God of Football’ Lionel Messi is from Argentina and plays for the country’s national team. He has a second reason to grin about – Messi prefers to play “every single match of the FIFA window at the Mâs Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina” because the venue enjoys the “pick of facilities”.

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Villarroel is at the helm of the Argentine professional sports club River Plate whose home venue is the Mâs Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is peppy about the fact that he spearheads one of the most illustrious clubs of Argentina which boasts a ‘monumental’ home ground.

Ignacio Villaroel is the Vice-President of the River Plate club in Argentina. Earlier, he was a lawyer by profession and has vast experience working with the established law firms.

In an animated chat exclusively with ‘Coliseum’, Ignacio Villarroel, Vice-President, River Plate, Argentina, does a straight talk and says that though poverty is rampant in Argentina, inflation is “crazy” and the country is sitting on a “pile of external debt” but when it comes to football it is more than a game in Argentina, it is a way of life for the people of the South American country, a mirror capturing the joyous moments as well as the sad moments of the people. He also asserts that the Mâs Monumental Stadium is indeed majestic and the River Plate club has given the most iconic footballers to European football.

Club Atlético River Plate

The Club Atlético River Plate, commonly known as the River Plate, is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Belgrano neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. River Plate has won Argentina’s Primera División (the country’s premier football division) championship a record 38 times, most recently in 2023. The River Plate has also won 16 national cups making River Argentina’s most successful team in domestic competitions with 54 titles.

Mâs Monumental Stadium

The 84,567-capacity Mâs Monumental Stadium, popularly known as the River Plate Stadium, is a stadium in Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina, home venue of the Club Atlético River Plate.

Way of Life

Ignacio Villarroel said that football is a way of life in Argentina, the raison d’ etre for the people – “If we talk about football in Argentina we talk about love, passion and fun. Football is passion, colossal, people, music, and it is real for us.”

Going by the ardent passion of the football crazy fans, he said that it is not easy to manage when the River Plate games are held, but “we manage to do so”.

He proudly added, “We (Argentina) are the current world champions after lifting the World Cup (Qatar 2022).”

Top of the Heap

Villarroel informed that the Mâs Monumental Stadium is the largest sports stadium in South America and he also added with a sense of pride that the River Plate Club “is one of the most prestigious and successful football clubs in Argentina”.

Waxing eloquent, he further said that the River Plate has given a full line-up of superstars to European football and swearing by their Youth Academy he informed that it has produced some exceptional talent down the years like Alfredo Di Stefano, Enzo Francescoli, Ariel Ortega, and Hernan Crespo, amongst countless others.

Further counting on the feats, he stated, “River Plate stands top in the world in terms of the number of members – 3, 50,000 which is a significant number.”

Massive Mâs Monumental Redo

Villarroel said that a 360 degree change was brought about to the Mâs Monumental Stadium when COVID struck the world in 2020 as “it was easy to carry out the massive redecoration work as fans were not allowed to enter the stadia at that point of time. We have the most passionate fan base and we believe in providing the corps d’elite facilities to them.”

He informed that they started with the pitch and installed a high-tech turf – a state-of-the-art SISGrass hybrid grass system supported with undersoil SISAir aeration system which creates a stronger playing surface by increasing the aeration and moderating temperature in the root zone.

The SISGrass is a playing surface that is over 95 percent natural grass mixed with high performance polyethylene fibers. It is in use by clubs and stadia around the world. The SISGrass is a company based in Ireland.

Villarroel said that today the River Plate Stadium offers the pick of facilities to the fans starting from the spoilt for choice food to the cushy seats and on the latter he drew a comparison with the 62,850-capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England (UK).

He informed, “The chic parking area of the redecorated facility boasts a bridge which facilitates the VIP guests to head direct from the parking space to the plush suites.”

RiverID Case

The RiverID Case is a platform with databases and “launching the RiverID was very important for our management in order to have every single match sold out and indeed our tickets fly off the shelves today. The above initiative has also resulted in increased fan engagement, operational efficiency, membership milestone, and stadium attendance records.”

He also added that the venue draws major music acts for its oh-so-irresistible facilities and the likes of Taylor Swift (American singer-songwriter), U2 (Irish rock band), Rolling Stones (English rock band), and the list goes on…. have performed sweeping fans off their feet.

Sum-up

He said that a key mantra he has learnt is that technological innovation and novel ideas can continuously assist in the growth of a football club and one should always work towards the growth of the community on which the venue sits as well as on fan engagement.

Ignacio Villarroel summed up by averring with a sense of pride, “Fans come to our stadium by the horde to watch the matches as we offer THE BEST in offerings and football buffs must make it a part of their bucket list to watch a fixture between the River Plate Club and their peer team the Boca Juniors. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

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