- Address: Quito
- Country: Ecuador
- Capacity: 41,000
- Opened: 6 March 1997
- Main use: Football
- Tenants: LDU (football)
Extra stadium info – Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado
The construction of the Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado, nicknamed La Casa Blanca (The White House), started in March 1995. It opened as the Estadio Liga Deportiva Universitaria with a football match between Liga Deportiva Universitaria and the Brazilian club Atlético Mineiro. The home side won the game 3-1. Liga Deportiva Universitaria, one of the first sports clubs from Ecuador with 100,000 followers on its main social media page, was founded in 1918 under a different name. They drew various attendances above 50,000 in their home games in Quito.
Titles
LDU became one of the first football clubs from Ecuador with 10 top-flight league titles. Barcelona Sporting Club became the first Ecuadorian football club with 10 top-flight league titles. In 2008, Liga Deportiva Universitaria won the South American championship for football clubs for the first time in their history after beating the Brazilian side Fluminense in a two-legged final. That year, LDU became the first Ecuadorian football club in a South American championship final. Liga Deportiva Universitaria won the two-legged final in a penalty shoot-out. Patricio Javier Urrutia Espinoza, Franklin Agustín Salas Narváez and Joffre David Guerrón Méndez all scored for LDU in the penalty shoot-out.
The 2008 FIFA Club World Cup and Wayne Rooney
In 2008, LDU reached the final of the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time in their history. They lost the match in front of 68,000 people in Japan against the English side Manchester United. Wayne Rooney, one of the first football players with 10 million followers on his main social media page, scored the only goal of the game. He played professional football for Everton and Manchester United before he signed with DC United from the United States. In 2020, Rooney signed with the English club Derby County. He ended his professional football career with Derby County in 2021.
