Venezuela returns to legendary Forum de Valencia

VALENCIA (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Americas Qualifiers) — The Venezuelan National Team continues to play for their country in these Americas Qualifiers on the road to China 2019. They have already done so at Domo Bolivariano in Barquisimeto, at Parque Miranda in the capital city of Caracas. Now, it is time for the Forum de Valencia, at Carabobo, where the marron jerseys will play again after a 27-year absence. The rivals are the Dominican Republic, in a vital match for both teams that are part of Group F.

The Forum’s construction began in 1988 and was inaugurated in the year 1991, when the first Torneo Sudamericano took place. Venezuela won the championship and, from that moment on, the stadium began its legendary status. It was built because Trotamundos — an influential basketball team of the city — needed to house more fans and the old facilities could not hold a great part of the people that went to see them.

That is the story of the Forum as told by the people that saw its birth. Today, it is one of the best stadiums in Latin America, since it was built to recreate the NBA levels and the FIBA parameters to be able to host national and international tournaments.

Valencia is Venezuela's basketball city. The stadium is at the Las Clavellinas sector of Valencia, at an affluent part of the city of Carabobo. Since last year, its name is Forum Plaza Arena. Its doors opened on March of 1991 by entrepreneur Germán Blanco Romero and it has a ten thousand spectator capacity. It is the only private facility in the Venezuelan Professional Basketball League.

In 2017 it was sold, alongside the team, to a group led by Giuseppe Palmisano, President of Trotamundos. Two months and a half after its inauguration, it was the stage for the first senior men’s Torneo Sudamericano that took place in Venezuela, and that was also the first of the three titles achieved by the local marron-colored jerseys. Since then, it has not been the venue of any official national team game, although there have been some preparatory games for official tournaments.

In the year 2000 it was also the venue for the Sudamericano of Champion Clubs, where Trotamundos won the third place of that extinct tournament.

Javier Liñero, Marketing and Events Manager of Trotamundo BBC, talked to FIBA about its creation and development. “Since the new management took possession of the Forum two years ago, the stadium has seen an optimization in its facilities, which already surpassed — in greater part — the requirements that FIBA or any other competition could have had. It is an impressive stage to organize any type of show — be it sports, music or different theatrical representations. We have focused on the sports part so that it satisfactory exceeds the demands and requests of a prestigious organization such as FIBA.”

“Since we began to remodel and acquire new basketball equipment, we hold ourselves to the highest standards set by FIBA for these types of events, both nationally and internationally. Because of that interest, we first adjusted the lights system, which was remodeled last year. A second stage of this process will begin in the beginning of next year. Lights were changed to LED and they meet all the requirements of the different levels of competition. We changed the boards and acquired the same ones that are used for the Olympic Games. To control the screen system, we bought the most advanced version. We have one of the largest screens in all of Latin America, very similar to those used at the NBA; we have new LED possession scoreboards, and we have new Mondovideo Advance software,” stated Liñero, who also said: “It has an 8,800-spectator capacity. It has surpassed the expectations of what existed at el Forum and in other gymnasiums around the country. We've received a lot of people.”

About its creation, it could be said that it was due to the success of team Trotamundos in the Venezuelan League. The club started to exist in 1984, and between 1986 and 1989 it won 4 leagues and two Sudamericanos, reason for which the fan base grew so much that the Teodoro Gubaira Gymnasium — its home at the time — rendered insufficient. This, and the entrepreneurial vision of Blanco Romero, concretized the idea.

The official record of the national team at the Forum is of 7 victories and one defeat — all of them at the 1991 Sudamericano. As for those who are playing in the current team, five of them are playing as local Trotamundos: David Cubillan, Jhornan Zamora, Pedro Chourio, Dwight Lewis and Miguel Ruiz.

Nelson Jiménez, official commentator of Trotamundos and former Sports Manager of the team, knows the Forum since its beginnings: “I've narrated 2,122 games in 44 years in this League. I only missed one game on May 10, 2009 because my granddaughter was doing her First Communion and I preferred to be with her in that event.”

“El Forum is born out of a need, because the gym where Trotamundos used to play was too small. It had a 2,000-person capacity and many people were left out of the games. The owner of the team thought about building a new stage for his team and we traveled to Houston and Oklahoma to see the NBA Basketball courts. That's how the idea was born, and an architect was the only one who could materialize it. On April 18, 1989, the building began. It ended on March 5, 1991, and we inaugurated it on the 8th of that same months. We named it Forum de Valencia. The sports stage of the Americas. The majestic and impressive home of Expreso Azul Trotamundos. Three months later we hosted the 23rd Torneo Sudamericano de Naciones and, in an electrifying game we beat brazil and Venezuela achieved, for the first time, that title that took us to the Olympic Qualifiers in Portland, where we were second place to no more and no less than to the USA Dream Team — the best in history. And that's how Venezuela participated at the Barcelona Olympic Games,” he added.

“It's a dynamic stadium, we've even had bullfighting. Apart from the artistic representations, international volleyball championships and Boxing matches. It’s in a preferential part of the city, Valencia is the basketball city of Venezuela. Since last year it's called Forum Plaza Arena,” added Jiménez, who has never lost a game in the Forum's history.

For his part, Venezuela’s coach, Fernando Duró, talked about what it means to play in a stadium like Forum, where he was recently crowned as champion with Guaros de Lara, and reminisced about some experience he has lived there. "There’s much expectation because Venezuela has played at Domo Bolivariano, at Parque Miranda, and for the first time we’ll be playing at Forum, a legendary stadium in Venezuela where great finals at an international level have been played, such as the Torneo Sudamericano and that final where we defeated Brazil. It will be a nice moment because we also have players in the team that play at Trotamundos, who are coming from a beautiful final.”

“I played there with Marinos de Anzoátegui and I coached an All-Star Game, and I believe that for the fans that really love basketball this will be a great moment. We hope to enjoy it. It will be a very important game against the Dominican Republic. People will enjoy it a lot, they needed their national team to play there,” stated the Argentine, who also added: “It's very good that the national team travels the country and be able to play in a stadium with so much history.”

He also talked about the game against the Dominican Republic: “We're aware of the importance of this game at home, it's key because we're locals. It’ll be a decisive match and will establish the tendency for the zone. Despite Gregory Echenique’s absence, we expect to be at the necessary level and play the game we want to play — defensive and running. We're working so that everything goes well, and we found the resources so that all the players could train before the game.”

- Fernando Duro, head coach of Venezuela.

FIBA

Photo: Trotamundos