More than 30,000 fans from 111 different countries recently voted on StadiumDB.com to select the best soccer facility of 2015. The competition highlights stadiums that were inaugurated over the course of each year. This year’s winner is Estadio BBVA Bancomer, home of Mexican soccer team Rayados. Monterrey has a fiercely loyal fanbase, and now they’ll have one more reason to be proud of their team.
The stadium was inaugurated with the eighth edition of the Eusebio Cup, which was awarded to Monterrey after they defeated Portuguese squad Benfica 3-0. The designer in charge of the stadium was Populous, an American design company that’s also responsible for the Wembley Stadium in England and the Yankee Stadium in NYC.
For the second year in a row, first place goes to a Latin American stadium, since last year the winner was São Paulo’s Allianz Parque, used by Brazilian squad SE Palmeiras and designed by Edo Rocha Arquiteturas.
There was another Mexican facility on the list; coming in third place with 41,420 votes was Estadio Cuauhtémoc, home of Puebla, another Liga MX team.
The competition also had a jury of architectural experts who conducted their own vote, and Monterrey’s stadium came in second just behind Matmut Atlantique, designed by prestigious architect studio Herzog & de Meuron, and home of the FC Girondins.
The news might seem surprising, but the truth is that Mexican teams have been putting lots of money into modernizing their stadiums. For example, Monterrey rivals Tigres recently announced their huge new stadium project, a venture that’s so state-of-the-art its designers claim it could host the first international Super Bowl. With Monterrey’s stadium just announced as the best of 2015, we can be sure Tigres will up the ante.