Who is ‘Nachito’, the bronze fan inside Estadio Azteca? | OneFootball

As Estadio Azteca prepares to become the first ground to stage three World Cups this Thursday evening, at the opener between Mexico and South Africa, it already carries a singular tribute. A bronze statue honours its most devoted fan, Nachito.

The arena reopened on 29 March for a gala draw with Portugal, 0-0, after two years of modernisation. According to L'Équipe, locals wondered if the statue had survived the works, and early images confirmed it remains in place.

Nachito, real name Ignacio Villanueva Aguirre, embodies the country’s devotion to football. In a deeply religious nation, removing a statue would verge on sacrilege. To mark the stadium’s 35th anniversary, owner Televisa launched a unique contest to find Club América’s most loyal supporter.

Villanueva arrived with a box filled with tickets from every match he had attended, having missed none of the Aguilas’ games for more than 20 years. Declared the winner from thousands of entrants, he became the model for sculptor Masha Zepeda. He posed in a Mexico shirt for eleven hours, seated with clenched fists.

Layers of plaster were applied across his body, then four more hours were needed to cover his face. The mould produced 120 kilos of solid bronze, later fixed to a seat in a section where the Club América logo once stood. The statue was unveiled on 30 May 2001.

While statues of players and managers have proliferated since the 2000s, especially in England, tributes to supporters remain rare and often anonymous. Nachito’s likeness took on fresh meaning during the Covid-19 pandemic, standing in for fans kept away by restrictions.

The man himself was granted a lifetime box seat. The stadium’s management, now operating as Estadio Banorte after a naming deal with a Mexican bank and capped at 83,000, later withdrew that privilege when he returned from five years studying in the United States before becoming a sculptor. Even so, his presence endures in bronze.

Source: L'Équipe