Estadio Abanca-Riazor – stadium description

Deportivo held their Home games here already in 1909, but it wasn’t until 1944 that stands with player and spectator infrastructure were opened. The vast terracing could hold up to 60,000 people around the field and running track.

First game of ‘Depor’ was the Valencia clash, lost 2:3 in October 1944. Soon afterwards, in 1947, due to massive size, Copa del Rey final was also played here between Real Madrid and Espanyol Barcelona. Unfortunately, apart from large games stands were empty in the most part so news of capacity decrease in early 1980s was seen as good move.

After thorough renovation the stadium could hold 29,000 people and that was the size for 1982 World Cup, during which three group games were played, all between Cameroon, Peru and Poland.

But the stadium as we know it today was opened in 1996, after complete renovation, losing the running track and receiving a last, fourth stand (before it was horseshoe-shaped). With all stands double-tiered and covered it could hold around 35,000 people. Crowds well over that number were reported several times, though, most notably in 2000, when Deportivo ended their only championship season with a 41,000-crowd against Espanyol.

Since 2005 the selection of Galicia started hosting home games here, while in 2009 Spain came for a first official international match, thrashing Belgium 5:0.

How Estadio Abanca-Riazor compares to other LaLiga Hypermotion stadiums?