Full name San Mamés Operator Athletic Bilbao Opened 16 September 2013 | Owner San Mamés Barria, S.L. Capacity 53,289 Team Athletic Bilbao | |
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Location Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain Record attendance 49,095 (Athletic vs Real Madrid, 18 March 2017) Field size 105 m × 68 m (344 ft × 223 ft) Address Rafael Moreno Pitxitxi Kalea, s/n, 48013 Bilbao, Vizcaya, Spain Architects César Azkarate, Mikel Sanz de Prit | ||
fc steal at san mam s stadium 2013
San Mamés (also known as Nuevo San Mamés or San Mames Barria) is an all-seater football stadium in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. Inaugurated on 16 September 2013, the stadium replaced the "old" San Mamés as the home of Athletic Bilbao.
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Planning and construction
The first stages of planning occurred as early as 2004, with initial contracts signed late on in 2006, after receiving approval to build in March 2006. The new stadium was to be built next to the existing San Mamés on land that was occupied until 2003 by the Bilbao International Trade Fair.
Despite the economical woes the country was going through at the time, especially the Basque people, 52.6% of the total cost of the €211m stadium were paid by public institution - some by the Basque government, some by the Bilbao City Council and some by the Biscay Provincial Council.
On 26 May 2010 at 12:00 the ground-breaking ceremony took place at San Mamés. The event was attended by: the Lehendakari of the Basque Country, Patxi López; the Deputy-General of Biscay, José Luis Bilbao; the Mayor of Bilbao, Iñaki Azkuna; the Chairman of Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa, Mario Fernández; the President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, Ángel María Villar and the President of Athletic Club, Fernando García Macua.
In a symbolic display, a piece of turf and a brick from the facade were removed from the old stadium and carried to the adjacent construction site by a human chain including famous players Iribar, Larrazabal, Iturraspe and Muniain as well as members of the youth system, the women's team, the reserve team and its oldest and youngest registered supporters.
Initially, three-quarters of the new stadium were built and then matches took place in it, while the old one was demolished to make room to complete the new arena.
Initial opening
San Mamés was inaugurated on 16 September 2013. The first match in the partially completed stadium was a league match played at 22:00 between the hosts Athletic Club and Celta Vigo, which the local team won 3–2. A capacity crowd of 33,000 was in attendance. The distinction of being the first ever goalscorer at the stadium went to Celta's Charles, while the first Athletic scorer was Mikel San José a few minutes later.
Prior to the match, the captains of each of the club's age group teams, club captain Carlos Gurpegui and president Josu Urrutia took part in a short presentation accompanied by a traditional Aurresku dance.
The Celta match was Athletic's second home fixture of that season. As the new stadium was not quite ready, the opening game of the campaign, a 2–0 win over Osasuna, was played at Anoeta in San Sebastian, home of rivals Real Sociedad.
Completion
The first match in the stadium under its full capacity was a Champions League playoff tie against Napoli on 27 August 2014, attended by 49,017. Athletic won 3–1 to progress to the group stage of the competition.
Other information
It is a club tradition for captains of teams visiting the Athletic ground for the first time pay homage to the fallen idol of its early years, Pichichi, by leaving a bouquet of flowers at a bust of the player. In the old stadium, this was situated near the directors' box. Despite concerns that this iconic feature might not be accommodated at the new stadium, a suitable spot was identified at the entrance to the players' tunnel, allowing the tradition to continue at the new location from 2013 onwards.
On 19 September 2014, San Mamés was selected as one of the 13 venues to host matches at UEFA Euro 2020. It will host three group stage matches and one Round of 16 match in the tournament.
On 5 November 2015, San Mamés was awarded as the Sports Building of the Year in the World Architecture Festival held in Singapore.