World Cup Qualifier: The national team of Bolivia is responsible for the high surprise of El Alto

Eva Copa is proud of the field. “Maradona has already come here to play,” the mayor of El Alto told the newspaper La Razón recently. And there are other stadiums, like the one in Peru, that are so high up .

This refers to the Estadio Daniel Alcides Carrión in Cerro de Pasco at 4,378 meters above sea level. But in El Alto, Bolivia, at an altitude of 4,085 meters, World Cup qualifiers are even played. More precisely, in the Estadio Municipal de El Alto, which is the official name of the field. The stadium cost about $8 million and has been in operation since 2017. The stadium, commonly known as “El Titan”, is about 500 meters higher than the stadium that was already very high in the capital La Paz (3600 meters), where the national team played their home games in the past – and there in the Lionel Messi and Argentina beat once 6-1 in thin air.

Bolivia was a points provider for a long time – now things are different

It has been exactly 30 years since Bolivia last participated in the World Cup. The country has been one of the providers of points in South America’s World Cup qualifiers for the past three decades. But things are different in the present testimony. With nine points from eight games, Bolivia is only one point behind in the table Brazil record world champion. The traditional outsider is tied on points with Paraguay, who are in seventh place and therefore stay in the place that would give them the right to a relegation game. Fans of “La Verde” can dream of participating in the World Cup again for the first time.

On the one hand, this is because due to the expansion of the field of participants, up to seven teams from South America will be allowed to participate in the 2026 World Cup competition in the USA, Canada and Mexico. On the other hand, the Bolivians rely on a certain home advantage. The home games are now played in the high stadium Municipal de El Alto. And besides, the current generation of Bolivian soccer players is reminiscent of the golden generation of the 1994 World Cup year.

In the second qualifying round, Bolivia managed an impressive 4-0 victory against the upcoming Venezuelans at El Alto. On Thursday (10pm CEST), the national team hosts second placed Colombia in the nearby city of La Paz “There is no magic or special recipe, you look for variations that help to reduce the effect of the height, we do. everything in the medical and physical fields,” said Colombia’s Argentinian coach Néstor Lorenzo before the match.

Players who are not used to playing at this height are at risk of suffering from hypoxia, ie less supply of oxygen to the body or individual parts of the body, explains the Colombian doctor Carlos Alejandro Lopez Alban from the Center for Research Health in Cali in an interview with the NZZ. His advice: drink a lot. “Good hydration is the best strategy, as it reduces the effects of altitude in the first few hours.” Colombia could benefit from one of its national drinks to offset the height advantage: coffee. The caffeine in it helps the body to be alert and move energy substrates a little better, says Lopez Alban. The Colombians are nicknamed “Cafeteros”.

Evo Morales fought to play at the height

Elite football has always been a sport-political issue for Bolivia. Long-time president Evo Morales (2006–2019) dispute with the world football association (Fifa) over the question of whether and to what extent football could be played. Morales argued that it is a human right for indigenous people in the Andes to play in their natural environment.

At the height of the controversy, Morales kicked the ball himself in Chacaltaya at an altitude of 5,395 meters, surrounded by the lenses of national and international cameras “Look, Mr. Blatter, you can play here without any problem,” Morales told directed the then FIFA president to the cameras.