El Sadar Stadium
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Estadio El Sadar (; known as ''Estadio Reyno de Navarra'' from 2005 to 2011, ) is a football stadium in
Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...
,
Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...
,
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
. The stadium holds 23,516 people. It was built in 1967 and is the home of
Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish ...
.


Name

The stadium was known as El Sadar, after a
river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
near the stadium, from 1967 to 2005 and again since 2011. From 2005 to 2011 the stadium was called Reyno de Navarra by its sponsor, the
Government of Navarre file:Palacio de Navarra.JPG, Palacio de Navarra. The Government of Navarre (''Basque language, Basque: Nafarroako Gobernua;'' Spanish language, Spanish: ''Gobierno de Navarra'') is the regional institution that exercises the executive power of t ...
, using the medieval
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...
spelling ''reyno'' instead of the modern ''reino'' ("kingdom", derived from ''rey'', "king") which lent it a somewhat archaic touch.


History

The inauguration of the El Sadar Stadium took place on 2 September 1967 with a match between
Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...
and Vitoria de Setúbal from
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
. The stadium replaced the San Juan stadium that was sold the previous year. The stadium accommodated a capacity of 25,000 spectators at its opening with only 7,000 of those seated. Its inaugural game was played on 2 September between Zaragoza and Portuguese side Vitoria de Setúbal and ended in a one-all draw. The following day Osasuna defeated Vitoria de Setúbal 3-0 for its first win in the new stadium. Osaba scored the first goal for Osasuna in El Sadar in the 28th minute.
Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Sayreville, New Jersey in 1983. The band consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarists John Shanks and Phil X, percussionist Everett Bradley ...
performed at the stadium during their
These Days Tour These Days Tour was Bon Jovi's concert tour during 1995-96. Van Halen opened as a special guest for Bon Jovi on twenty of the European stadium dates during the second leg promoting their album ''Balance''. The last of the three Wembley Stadium gi ...
on June 5, 1996. In November 2014, Osasuna was forced to sell the stadium to the regional government of Navarre (Navarra) because of the club's huge economic crisis, threatening its continued existence. The measure was approved in the regional parliament with 31 votes in favour and 18 against. In the summer of 2015, the capacity of the stadium was reduced from 19,800 to 18,375 due to security-related renovation works.


Expansion

In early 2019, the club's members voted in favour of an expansion of the stadium to almost 24,000 seats (in preference to modest upgrading to meet league requirements with no increased capacity) and then chose their favourite from several projects submitted by firms the previous year. The work, including the addition of an extra tier of seats on the three smaller stands and corners to almost reach the height of the grandstand, the installation of 1,300 rail seating places at the south end of the ground, a new roof structure over the ring of the stands augmented by colour-coordinated external cladding, a club museum and improvements to the players' area, media and corporate facilities and hospitality, began in late 2019 and was completed in early 2021. It was hoped to coincide with Osasuna's centenary but this proved difficult due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Spain The COVID-19 pandemic in Spain has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Spain on 31 January 2020, when a German tourist tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in La Gomera, Canary Island ...
; however, the fact that all matches were played in empty stadia during the crisis allowed the work to carry on with minimal interruption, although at a slower pace than anticipated. The cost was also higher than projected (originally €16 million), eventually coming in at around €21 million.Spain: El Sadar ready, all it needs now is fans
Stadium DB, 9 April 2021


References


External links


Reyno de Navarra in CA Osasuna official website

WorldStadiums.com entry

Estadios de Espana
Football venues in Navarre CA Osasuna Multi-purpose stadiums in Spain Buildings and structures in Pamplona Sports venues completed in 1967 {{Spain-sports-venue-stub