The Alberto José Armando Stadium is a football stadium located in La Boca, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Widely known as La Bombonera (; ) due to its shape, with a "flat" stand on one side of the pitch and three steep stands round the rest of the stadium. The stadium is owned by Boca Juniors, one of Argentina's top football clubs. The unusual shape of the stadium has led to it having excellent acoustics and the Boca support being nicknamed "La Doce". The pitch at La Bombonera is the minimum size required under FIFA regulations – 105m × 68m. The stadium is widely regarded as one of the most emblematic stadiums of the world, and has been declared of public interest by the Government of Buenos Aires autonomous city. The stadium, as well as being the home of Boca Juniors, who have over 16 million fans (the highest in Argentina), is also used as a concert venue. Past performers at La Bombonera have included Lenny Kravitz, Elton John, James Blunt, the Bee Gees, and the Backstreet Boys. History Background Previous to La Bombonera, Boca Juniors had used several locations before settling on their current ground on Brandsen. The club's first ground had been located in Dársena Sur of the old Buenos Aires port (currently Puerto Madero) and Isla Demarchi before moving to Brandsen and Del Crucero (currently Del Valle Iberlucea) streets in 1924. The club built a stadium there. This would be used as their home venue until the construction of La Bombonera at the same location. In 1931, Boca Juniors' steering committee (led by president Ruperto Molfino) acquired the lands from the Municipality of Buenos Aires for A$ 2,200,000. Three years later the club published a call for tenders to built its new stadium. The project was finally granted to the Delpini-Sulcic-Bes architectural office. which would be also design the Abasto Shopping in the 1990s. The old stadium (still with wooden grandstands) was used for the last time on April 10, 1938, before being demolished to build the new stadium at the same location. While La Bombonera was under construction, Boca Juniors played their home games at Ferro Carril Oeste stadium. Opening and later refurbishments The stadium finally opened on May 25, 1940, with a friendly match between Boca and San Lorenzo, which the home side won 2–0 with both goals scored by Ricardo Alarcón. Due to the fact that