The Parliament of Navarre has unanimously passed legal changes that pave the way for increasing the capacity of El Sadar, the stadium that won our Stadium of the Year 2021 award. Club Atlético Osasuna will now be able to add up to 1,000 additional seats to its stadium to meet growing demand from fans.

New chapter for El Sadar

On the morning of Thursday, March 27, the Parliament of Navarre held a plenary session and unanimously passed an amendment to Foral Law 2/1989 of March 13, which regulates public entertainment and recreational activities. This legislative change will allow Osasuna to expand El Sadar beyond its current capacity of 23,500 seats. Depending on the outcome of detailed engineering studies, the stadium could gain between 700 and 1,000 new seats.

The amendment was the result of an agreement between the club and the regional government. The main goal is to respond to overwhelming demand from supporters — the club currently has over 5,000 people on its waiting list for membership.

© Grzegorz Kaliciak

Engineers, architects, and approvals

While parliamentary approval marks a major milestone, several key steps still lie ahead for Osasuna. The first is the preparation of a technical study to determine how many additional seats can safely be added without compromising safety regulations and evacuation protocols. Work on this study is already underway.

As club president Luis Sabalza explained, the project will go through multiple stages and approvals. First, an engineer will design the evacuation plan, then an architect will implement it. After that, it must be approved by both the regional government and the city council he said following the parliament's decision.

© Grzegorz Kaliciak

When will El Sadar be bigger?

Osasuna is eager to carry out the expansion as soon as possible, but the timeline depends on several administrative and technical factors. President Sabalza admitted that the work won’t be completed before the start of the 2025/26 season, but the club hopes to finish it during the season itself.

That means fans who have waited for years to become socios may finally be able to watch matches from the stands in just over a year. The club has emphasized that the process will be carried out efficiently — but without rushing — to ensure both quality and safety.