On May 5, a ceremony was held to symbolically launch the first phase of the modernisation of the venue located in Palma. The festivities were attended by local politicians, club representatives and the architect, author of the project. Work started in full swing on May 16, the day after RCD Mallorca's last game of this season.

The first stage of the project, which has just been inaugurated, will cost around €5.5 million. The entire investment, due to be completed in 2024, will cost around €20 million, as we wrote about at the beginning of the year. The current phase is scheduled to take 3.5 months and will be completed before the start of the 2022/2023 season.

© Jordi Bailén Photography (Flickr)

First on the agenda is the east stand, the so-called “Sol stand” (la Tribuna Sol), where the dismantling of the seats has begun. It will have a capacity of 10,000 spectators and a canopy that will cover 6,500 seats. Visit Mallorca Estadi (Son Moix) was designed as the arena for the 1999 Summer Universiade, so it was given an athletics track.

Football fans tend to complain about venues where this arrangement is in place, due to the distance between the stands and the pitch being much greater than in football-specific arenas. Listening to the voices of their supporters, the club's authorities decided to get rid of the track and rebuild the lower level of the Sol stand. Such a procedure will reduce the distance between the fans and the events on the pitch to 8.5m.

© rcdmallorca.es

Phase II of the project will see the construction of the lower tier of the north stand (on the Camí dels Reis side), which will allow it to be connected to the lower levels of the refurbished both grandstand and Sol stand in one ring. In the next phase, the lower tier of the west (grand) stand will be rebuilt in the same way as the Sol stand. And in the last stage of the redevelopment, the lower tier of the south stand will be constructed, which will connect the entire auditorium of the stadium into one oval.

Further plans include the creation of two additional spaces. The first will be outside, in the northern part of the stadium. It will be used as the headquarters of the Fundació Reial Mallorca to facilitate its work in a number of social activities, as well as a new fan service office and official shop.

 © rcdmallorca.es

The second structure will be located on the south side of the stadium and will be used for recreational activities, cultural events and as a viewpoint over the Tramuntana mountain range. In the meantime, photovoltaic panels and LED floodlights will be installed to make energy consumption more sustainable. All the seats in the venue will be replaced too. When the work is completed, the stadium's capacity will be around 23,000 spectators.

Ahead of the final gameweek of La Liga’s season, Mallorca's players still cannot be sure of securing a place in the league. They currently occupy 17th place in the table, the last spot guaranteeing a stay in La Liga, but they have the same number of points as 18th-placed Cádiz CF. In the last game of the season, the club from the Balearic Islands will play away against 9th Osasuna, while the team from Andalusia will play against the already relegated Deportivo Alaves. It will be an exciting finish, that’s for sure!