San Mamés Stadium (2013)

San Mamés
AaAA
Full name San Mamés
Location Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain
Coordinates 43°15′51″N 2°57′01″W / 43.264284°N 2.950366°W / 43.264284; -2.950366
Owner San Mamés Barria, S.L.[1]
Operator Athletic Bilbao
Capacity 53,289[2]
Record attendance 49,017 (Athletic vs Napoli, 27 August 2014)[3]
Field size 105 m × 68 m (344 ft × 223 ft)
Surface Grass
Construction
Broke ground 26 May 2010
Opened 16 September 2013 (1st phase), 25th August 2014 (Complete Stadium)
Construction cost € 173 million
Architect
  • IDOM
  • César Azkarate
Project manager IDOM
Tenants

Athletic Bilbao (2013–present)

Athletic Bilbao B (2015–present)

San Mamés (often described as "'Nuevo San Mamés"') is the name of Athletic Bilbao's new football stadium. The stadium replaced the "old" San Mamés as the home of Athletic Bilbao.

History

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.

On 26 May 2010 at 12:00 the ground-breaking ceremony took place at San Mamés.[4] 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.

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.

The new stadium was built next to the prior San Mamés on land that was occupied until 2003 by the Bilbao International Trade Fair. Initially, three-quarters of the new stadium were built and then matches took place in the new stadium, and the old one was demolished to make room to complete the new stadium.

San Mamés was inaugurated on 16 September 2013. The inaugural match was a league match played at 22:00pm between the hosts Athletic Club and Celta Vigo, which the local team won 3–2.

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.[5]

On 5 November 2015, San Mamés was awarded as the Sports Building of the Year in the World Architecture Festival held in Singapore.[6]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to San Mamés stadium (2013).

Coordinates: 43°15′51″N 2°57′01″W / 43.264284°N 2.950366°W / 43.264284; -2.950366

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