stadium after Pope Francis.
The pontiff has supported the Buenos Aires-based team since he was a boy.
San Lorenzo, one of the oldest teams in the Argentine Football
Association, is planning to build a new stadium in Boedo, a
working-class neighbourhood in the Argentine capital.
The new venue will be built on land seized from the club during the
time of military rule from 1976-1983.
Streak of success
The club announced its decision on Twitterfollowing a meeting of its
board: "Name of the future stadium on La Plata Avenue approved. It
will be called: Pope Francis."
San Lorenzo have had a successful year, winning the Argentine top
division and the Copa Libertadores
San Lorenzo players have been to the Vatican to meet their most famous fan
San Lorenzo played at its home ground in the Gasometro (Gasometer)
stadium in Boedo until 1979, when debts forced the club to sell the
ground to the military government.
It moved to the Pedro Bidegain stadium, often referred to as Nuevo
Gasometro (New Gasometre), in 1993, but fans have campaigned to return
to their historic grounds for years.
Fans donated money towards the purchase of the land, which the
military government had sold to a supermarket chain.
After a court action forced the supermarket chain to sell back the
land, the club drew up its plans for its new home ground, expected to
be inaugurated in 2016.
Pope Francis is the team's most famous fan and some supporters have
joked that their recent string of sporting success is down to him.
San Lorenzo recently won the Copa Libertadores - South American club
football's most prestigious competition - for the first time in the
club's 106-year history.
And last year they won the trophy in Argentina's top division.
But quizzed if his support may have played a part in his favourite
team's victories, the Pope said at the time of their Copa Libertadores
win that "I am very happy about it, but, no, it is not a miracle".
BBC
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