Castelão (Maranhão)

BW

The Estádio Governador João Castelo is a multi-purpose stadium in the Brazilian city of São Luís. It can accommodate 75 263 spectators and is used, among other things, the club FC Sampaio Corrêa as homestead.

History

The Estádio Governador João Castelo was built in 1982 and opened on 5 February of the same year. For the first game in the new stadium, the Brazilian national football team and the national soccer team of Portugal met for a friendly match, which ended 3-1 for the Brazilian. The first goal at the Estádio Governador João Castelo was achieved here by the Brazilian player Junior. Since 1982, the Estádio Governador João Castelo serves the three main football clubs from São Luís, the capital, with close to one million inhabitants, the largest city of the Brazilian state of Maranhão in the northeast of the country, Maranhão AC, Moto Club de São Luís and Sampaio Corrêa FC as the venue for home games. However, these three teams have their own stadium, they differ only rarely in the Estádio Governador João Castelo. The most successful of these clubs is the FC Sampaio Corrêa, who has even already spent several seasons in the highest Brazilian soccer league, the Series A and can point to a variety of state championship titles.

The Estádio Governador João Castelo is also called Castelão, where it would be easy to be confused with the Estádio Plácido Castelo Aderaldo in Fortaleza, which also has this nickname. It is named after João Castelo Ribeiro Gonçalves, Governor of the State of Maranhão 1979-1982. The stadium of São Luís today offers space for 75 263 spectators. The record attendance at the stadium was erected, as on 24 September 1998 as part of the Copa Conmebol 1998 FC Sampaio Corrêa met Santos, was defeated with 1:5 and 95 720 spectators were present. This game replaced the local derby between Sampaio Corrêa and Moto club, in a 3-1 victory Moto Club attracted 95,000 spectators in 1987.