Club Deportivo Eldense will see a new facility. And although plans for the stadium's construction have been in place for quite some time, it seems that they are now closer to realization than ever before. A new concept has emerged. What exactly will be built?

Revised initial project

In contrast to the original concept, which never progressed beyond the preliminary design phase and envisioned a stadium with 18,000 seats, equipped with an underground parking for 3,000 vehicles and a hotel-commercial section, the current plan no longer includes the mentioned parking or hotel. Instead, the capacity of the new facility is being reduced to 10,000 seats. 

The preliminary project, for which sketches have not yet begun but whose general outlines are already defined, envisages the creation of several commercial premises ranging from 70 to 100 square meters with facades on Olympic Avenue. Furthermore, although the space currently occupied by the old Pepico Amat will continue to be used for the new urban football stadium, planned work will not affect the neighboring plot or the first team's training center. Regardless of the planned capacity reduction, the new facility will exceed the capacity of the old Pepico Amat by 2,000 seats.

© CD Eldense

Meeting requirements

Deportivo Eldense currently competes in Segunda División, and everything indicates that they will remain in this league for the 2024/2025 season as well. This is important from the perspective of renovating Pepico Amat, as even before the start of the current season, several works had to be carried out at the stadium to adapt it to licensing requirements. However, these are only temporary solutions; for example, additional stands were added to achieve the required capacity. Therefore, the club authorities want to solve this problem once and for all by building a modern facility.

Third edition of Pepico Amat

The current Deportivo Eldense stadium, Nuevo Pepico Amat, was opened in 2012 and cost €4.5 million. It replaced the old facility of the same name inaugurated in 1964. The construction of another version of Pepico Amat is expected to cost €15 million, with slightly more than half financed from public funds. The investment is likely to start in the second quarter of 2025.

The stadium is named after José Amata Cerdán, known as Pepico Amat, born in Elda in 1917. He was a football and handball player and coach. In the 1940s, he played for RCD Espanyol.

 © CD Eldense