It is part of a 62 hectare sporting complex which also features tennis courts, an aquatics center, a modern gymnasium, a velodrome, a BMX circuit, and an assistant ground/warmup athletics track.

[4] The stadium was notoriously used as a mass imprisonment, torture, and extrajudicial execution facility by the Pinochet dictatorship following the 1973 military coup.

The stadium holds up to 100,000 people for this annual event with the Jumbotron showing the required amount to reach the goal and its current donation.

On July 5, 2008, the stadium was officially renamed Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos, in honor of a recently deceased sports journalist.

An article in the Harvard Review of Latin America reported that "there were over 80 detention centers in Santiago alone" and gave details of the National Stadium and others.

FIFA President Sir Stanley Rous insisted the USSR team play a World Cup qualifier at the time.

They however refused to do so and Chile qualified automatically for the 1974 World Cup, where they failed to advance from a group containing both West and East Germany and Australia.

The use of the stadium during the coup d'état is depicted in the 2002 documentary film Estadio Nacional, directed and produced by Carmen Luz Parot, and in the 2007 Swedish film The Black Pimpernel, which is based on the story of Swedish ambassador in Chile Harald Edelstam and his heroic actions to protect the lives of over 1,200 people during and after the military coup.

The 1982 film Missing by Greek filmmaker Costa-Gavras depicts the September 11, 1973, coup d'état and execution of American journalists Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi at the Estadio Nacional.

The stadium was scheduled to be reinaugurated in March 2010 to stage a double friendly match between Chile and North Korea and Panama, but the works were not finished on time.

The construction of the roof has since been postponed by the government of President Sebastián Piñera due to financial constraints brought about by the February 27, 2010 earthquake.

On September 12, 2010, during the Chilean bicentennial festivities, President Sebastián Piñera announced that the capacity of the stadium will be increased so as to reach 70,000 seats for the 2014 South American Games that will take place in Santiago.

[citation needed] In the 2016–17 season, Universidad de Chile drew an average home league attendance of 30,041 for the Apertura and 33,466 for the Clausura.

[16] Years later, in 1989, Rod Stewart performed what is considered the first proper rock concert by an international artist in the venue, drawing 70,000 fans, with the show being broadcast on TV throughout the country.

In 2001, Chilean band Los Prisioneros became the first act to perform two consecutive days in the stadium, while Madonna is considered the first international artist to achieve the same in 2008.

The show of Cuban folk singer Silvio Rodríguez in March 1990 was released on a 2CD set titled Silvio Rodríguez en Chile, while both concerts of Los Prisioneros in late 2001 were released on cassette and CD as Estadio Nacional, and on VHS and DVD as Lo Estamos Pasando Muy Bien.

English heavy metal band Iron Maiden recorded their show in the venue during The Final Frontier World Tour in April 2011.

[38] For the 1962 FIFA World Cup, seating capacity was increased to 74,000 with overflow areas allowing for a total of more than 80,000 people, by eliminating the cycling track that was moved to another location.