Buenos Aires, Oct 22 (IANS) Over 3,000 fans of Argentine football club Boca Juniors signed an online campaign to oppose the building of a new stadium which would force them to leave the legendary ‘Bombonera’ stadium.

A group of sympathisers began the petition on Wednesday through the website ‘change.org’ under the heading ‘We will not leave La Bombonera’ with the purpose of collecting signatures against the initiative to move stadiums, reports Xinhua.

“We, Boca Juniors’ partners and fans, join in this request for the sole purpose of letting you, the person concerned, know, that we strongly oppose the construction of a new stadium and therefore we also oppose La Bombonera’s retirement,” said the online letter.

The petition, which has gathered over 3,200 signatures in a little over 24 hours, spread through social networks, especially Twitter, where the hashtag “DeLaBomboneraNoNosVamos” (We Will Not Leave La Bombonera) was among the top trends on Wednesday.

The blub’s board, led by Daniel Angelici, announced in the past weeks that if they are re-elected (in December), they have plans to build a new stadium.

“I am going to present the idea to the partners. The proposal is to use the Casa Amarilla (Yellow House) grounds that border La Bombonera. It will feature a five-star stadium with an indoor swimming pool and a basketball court, like the stadiums appearing all over the world,” Angelici said recently.

However, the opposing candidates for the board positions are showing their rejection of the project and are announcing they would back reforms to expand La Bombonera’s capacity to avoid moving.

Inaugurated on May 25, 1940, La Bombonera was Argentina’s main stadium. However, through the years, it was overtaken in seating capacity by rival team River Plate’s ‘Monumental’ along with Cordoba’s ‘Mario Alberto Kempes’ and Buenos Aires’ ‘Ciudad de La Plata’.