El Molinón
| El Molinón | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Full name | Estadio Municipal El Molinón |
| Location | Gijón, Spain |
| Coordinates | 43°32′10″N 5°38′14″W / 43.53611°N 5.63722°W |
| Opened | 1908 |
| Renovated | 1997—98 |
| Expanded | 1980—81, 2009—10 |
| Owner | Ayuntamiento de Gijón |
| Operator | Sporting de Gijón |
| Surface | Grass |
| Capacity | 30,000[1] |
| Record attendance | 42,000 vs UE Lleida, in 1995 |
| Field dimensions | 105 m × 68 m (344 ft × 223 ft) |
| Tenants | |
| Sporting de Gijón (1915—present) | |
Estadio El Molinón is an association football stadium in Gijón, Asturias-Spain. The stadium is the home ground of Real Sporting de Gijón.
The stadium's address is Parque de Isabel la Católica, 33390 Gijón.
History
El Molinón is the oldest professional football field in Spain. It has been in use since at least 1908, and is located on the site of an old watermill, hence the stadium's name, the Asturian word for "big mill".[2]
Real Sporting started to use El Molinón as official ground in 1915. The first official match was held on April 22, 1917 between Real Sporting and Arenas Club de Getxo as part of the 1917 Copa del Rey. Arenas won 0-1. On May 2, 1920, El Molinón held the 1920 Copa del Rey Final, where FC Barcelona defeated Athletic Bilbao by 2–0.
On 1924, Real Sporting bought El Molinón and became the owner of the stadium. On 1931, the main stand was destroyed because of fire, but it was later re-built. In 1944, Gijón City Hall re-bought El Molinón due to Sporting's financial situation.
On 1968, four floodlights were installed in El Molinón, and the stadium started to hold matches at night. The first one was against Valencia CF. On November 30, 1969, El Molinón became the first all-covered stadium in Spain and on January 28, 1970, the first match to be televised in Spain was played in El Molinón. Sporting defeated Osasuna by 3–0.
On 1997–98, El Molinón prepared to adapt to the new UEFA and FIFA security legislation: all people must be seated and the fences must be removed. The stadium capacity was reduced from 42,000 to 25,885. However, at the beginning of the 21st Century, plans were put forward for the stadium to be renovated and expanded. After the expansion between 2009 and 2011, El Molinón's capacity grew to 30,000 fans.
International matches
The first international match in El Molinón was held on April 22, 1928 between Spain national football team and Italy national football team. El Molinón had that day a capacity about 36,000 people. The match finished 1–1.
50 years later, El Molinón held again another international match between Spain and Czechoslovakia.
On March 22, 2013, El Molinón held a World Cup Qualifying match between Spain and Finland. The match finished in a 1-1 draw.
Apart from Spain matches, in this stadium Sporting played all his UEFA Cup matches, including the winning against A.C. Milan by 1–0 on September 30, 1987.
1982 FIFA World Cup
The stadium played host three matches of the Group B. Two of them were famous in the 1982 World Cup, West Germany's shock 1-2 defeat to Algeria being the first. After the result of Algeria's final group game was known, a rather uncontested 1-0 victory of West Germany against Austria which sent both teams through at Algeria's expense. In German the match is known as Nichtangriffspakt von Gijón (lit. Non-aggression pact of Gijón)[3] or Schande von Gijón (lit. Shame of Gijón). This shameful game at Gijon directly led to a change of the rules, requiring the last matches in the group phase to be played simultaneously.
20 June 1982 17:15 CEST |
West Germany  |
4 – 1 |  Chile |
|---|---|---|
Rummenigge  9', 57', 66'Reinders 81' |
Report | Moscoso 90' |
All Spain matches in El Molinón
| Data | Opponent | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22 April 1928 |  Italy | 1–1 | Friendly match |
| 29 March 1978 |  Norway | 3–0 | Friendly match |
| 16 April 1980 |  Czechoslovakia | 2–2 | Friendly match |
| 24 September 1986 |  Greece | 3–1 | Friendly match |
| 12 September 1990 |  Brazil | 3–1 | Friendly match |
| 11 October 1997 |  Faroe Islands | 3–1 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA) |
| 31 March 2004 |  Denmark | 2–0 | Friendly match |
| 17 August 2005 |  Uruguay | 2–0 | Friendly match |
| 22 March 2013 |  Finland | 1–1 | 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA) |
Asturias autonomous football team
Especially in the decade of the 1920s and 1930s, El Molinón held some friendly matches of the Asturias autonomous football team. The last one was in 2001 against Lithuania.
| Date | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1922 | St. Mirren FC | |
| 12 November 1922 |  Euskadi |
|
| 13 November 1922 | Euskadi |
|
| 14 January 1923 |  Catalonia |
|
| 21 June 1925 |  Cantabria |
|
| 5 September 1926 | Catalonia |
|
| 10 July 1932 | SL Benfica | |
| 16 June 1934 |  Mexico |
|
| 28 June 1936 |  Brussels |
|
| 29 December 2001 |  Lithuania |
Curiosities and other events
On November 25, 1979, during a match between Real Sporting and Real Madrid, people started to chant "Así, así, así gana el Madrid" (that is how Madrid win) criticizing supposedly biased referring decisions that aided Real. Years later, Real Madrid fans adopted this song to celebrate the triumphs of their team.
The stadium has hosted concerts by many famous artists, including Bon Jovi, Paul McCartney, Dire Straits, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Sting and Tina Turner, among others.
External links
References
- ↑ El Molinón Sporting website.
- ↑ "El Molinón empieza su centenario" (in Spanish). El Comercio. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
- ↑ "Austria shirt/kits World Cup 1978 and 1982". switchimageproject.com. November 20, 2007. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
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