The Battle of Oruro! CDT Real Oruro v Blooming, Oruro, Bolivia
- David Richardson
- Dec 3
- 3 min read
Real Oruro v Blooming, Copa Paceña Quarter Final 2nd leg, Estadio Olimpico Jesus Bermudez, 25/11/26
After a 4 hour bus journey from La Paz I arrived in Oruro to catch the Copa Paceña Quarter Final second leg between Real Oruro and Blooming. The Santa Cruz side held a 2-1 advantage from the first leg but had to contend with the altitude for the return. It turned out to be a memorable game - for the wrong reasons!
Oruro is situated 226 km from La Paz and has a rich mining history. Under Spanish Colonial rule the city was a centre for silver extraction. Once the silver was exhausted the Europeans established the area as a tin mining centre in the late nineteenth century.
The two main teams in the city are Real Oruro and San José which both currently play in the Primera Division.
The match finished 2-2 on the night meaning Oruro were eliminated. The match was tense thoughout with lots of delaying tactics being used by the Blooming players. There was one red card for Blooming and ten yellow cards during the match however this was nothing compared with what was to come.
After the final whistle the tension reached boiling point and a mass brawl erupted amongst the players, managers and technical staff. The police got involved and utilised pepper spray in an attempt to control the situation. I’ve seen the police use these tactics to control fans but not players!
Amongst the carnage there was a one on one between both managers and some proper karate style kicks! A member of the Blooming staff later required suregery after being kicked in the head by the Oruro manager. After things eventually settled down the referee issued a firther 17 (seventeen!) red cards. The two teams meet again in the league next week.
Match Facts
Estadio Olimpico Jesus Bermudez
Capacity: 33.000
Estimated Attendance: 3,000 plus a few dogs
Temperature: 12 degrees
Cost of ticket; 20 BOB ($ 2.90)
Altitude: 3,715 metres
How to buy tickets for Real Oruro
Real Oruro don’t attract big crowds so it was easy to get a ticket at the stadium. I got there about 15 minutes before Kick off and there was no queue.
Tips for visiting Estadio Jesus Bermudez
The stadium is located around 3 km from Plaza 16 de Febrero. There’s no Uber in Oruro and I couldn’t get any local taxi apps to work so I just got a taxi on the street. Going there was fine but the taxi back wasn’t so good - the driver was swerving all over the road and I’m sure he was drunk. The taxi cost 10 BOB (£1) each way.
Where to buy the Official Real Oruro shirt?
I didn’t find anywhere selling Real Oruro shirts, the only thing related was a guy selling jesters hats in the club colours during the match. I did see a shop in the centre selling the shirts of their neighbours, San Jose but I wasn’t convinced they were authentic.
How to get to Oruro
To get there I took a Flota bus from La Paz which took around 4 hours. The Oruro bus terminal is around 5 kms from the centre and a taxi costs 30 BOB to the centre (plaza principal 16).
There were limited options for hotels on the usual travel apps so I just found a hotel when I got there. I chose the Hotel Flores Plaza , a three star hotel right in the centre which which cost BOB 350 per night
Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
Around 70 kms to the Northwest of Oruro lies the town of Eucaliptus. This town is associated with a train robbery allegedly carried out by the outlaws Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. I later visited the old mining town of Pulacayo, south of Oruro where you can see the last train robbed by the bandits (complete with bullet holes). This could be the same train but like most stories associated with the legendary pair who knows!
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