Qualla: Estádio Presidente Vargas (Ceará)

Estádio Presidente Vargas (Ceará): Introduction

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The first match at Estádio Presidente Vargas was played on September 21, 1941. Ferroviário beat Tramways Sport Club of Pernambuco, 1-0. Up until that moment, every football field in Fortaleza had a clay surface that the groundskeepers moistened with water cans before each match so the dust would not blow into the players' eyes. The PV was the first stadium in the city with actual grass. Walled in. Wooden grandstands. A wooden fence separating fans from the pitch. It was, by the standards of northeastern Brazilian football in 1941, modern - and for the next thirty-two years, it was the biggest stadium in Fortaleza.

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Estádio Presidente Vargas (Ceará): Named for the Strongman President

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CEscudos, Public domain. Getúlio Vargas ran Brazil for most of the mid-20th century - as provisional president from 1930, as dictator under the Estado Novo regime from 1937 to 1945, and again as democratically elected president from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. The 1941 naming of the Fortaleza stadium...

Image: CEscudos | Public domain

Estádio Presidente Vargas (Ceará): The Record Attendance

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Joelkaula, CC BY-SA 4.0. The official attendance record stands at 38,515, set on May 7, 1989, when Ferroviário and Ceará drew 1-1. A disputed record claims 41,099 showed up on a different day in 1971 for a Ceará vs. Corinthians match in the Brazilian Championship, but that figure has never been officiall...

Image: Joelkaula | CC BY-SA 4.0

Estádio Presidente Vargas (Ceará): Renovation and the Orange Chairs

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Joelkaula, CC BY-SA 4.0. Between February 2008 and April 2011, the PV underwent a major renovation budgeted at R$48 million. The historic facade got preserved. The tunnels, ramps, changing rooms, administration offices, parking lot, and press room were rebuilt. An electronic scoreboard went in. Glass fen...

Image: Joelkaula | CC BY-SA 4.0

Estádio Presidente Vargas (Ceará): The Cauldron and the Clássicos

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit pt:Usuário:Mansueto77, Public domain. From 1941 until 1973, the PV was the biggest stadium in Fortaleza. Then the Castelão opened on the outskirts of the city, and the big matches moved. Castelão's 2013 reopening for the 2014 FIFA World Cup locked in the transition - the Caldeirão, as fans call that bigger stadium, n...

Image: pt:Usuário:Mansueto77 | Public domain