El Molinon Stadium
The El Molinón Stadium, officially called El Molinón-Enrique Castro "Quini" Municipal Stadium, is a municipally owned sports venue located in the city of Gijón, Asturias, Spain. It hosts the matches that Real Sporting de Gijón plays at home and has a capacity for 30,000 spectators. Its name refers to a large hydraulic mill that was erected in the vicinity of its location, although the exact date is not known. in which it was built; the first review of a match "in the field of Molinón" appears in the local newspaper El Comercio on May 20, 1908,
The 1920 Copa del Rey final was held here, it was one of the seventeen venues for the 1982 World Cup and it has hosted eleven matches for the Spanish team. It also holds the absolute attendance record for a soccer match in Asturias, with 43,000 spectators, an amount reached in matches of the 1982 World Cup. Later, as a consequence of the legislation that forced all seats to be seated, the capacity of the stadium dropped to 25,000 people. After the reform that was carried out between 2009 and 2011, it was increased to 30,000 spectators. After Quini's death on February 27, 2018, the Gijón City Council unanimously approved to change its official name to Estadio Municipal El Molinón-Enrique Castro "Quini".
History
El Molinón was a farm owned by Julius Rimmel, grandson of Eugène Rimmel, who was named like this because it was next to a large hydraulic mill that was erected in the area, where the Molino Viejo National Parador is currently located. In the Toponymic dictionary of the council of Gijón by Ramón d'Andrés, published by the Gijón City Council in 2008, you can read about the origin of the name of El Molinón:
The Molinon He designates, first of all, an old mill that existed in this place, moved by the waters of a stream called El Molin, a tributary of the Piles. In the century XIX It was part of the facilities of the flour factory "La Hormiga", founded by Romualdo Alvargonzález. The place was abandoned when this industry disappeared. In the 1970s XX. the place was restored and recovered, giving rise to the current “National Parador of the Old Mill”. The name of The Molinon also applied to nearby sites: the avenue of the Molinon (l'avenida'l Molinón) and the field of the Molinon (the campu'l Molinón), Real Sporting football stadium, already used as such since the beginning of the century XX., officially inaugurating in 1917; he passed to the Town Hall in 1944. In addition, El Molinón designates a whole area of the city that has as reference the site of the old mill and the current football stadium.
Its date of construction is not exactly known and the first documentary evidence of its existence appears in the pages of the local newspaper El Comercio on May 20, 1908, as a reference to a soccer match disputed between the companies La Bella Sportiva and El Balón three days before. The review of that match does not present it as something exceptional, which could indicate that the existence of the stadium is earlier. This fact makes it the oldest in Spain.
On the last Sunday, in the camp of the Molinon, they played a foot-ball mach, the teams of the sportive societies "La Bella Sportiva" and "El Balón", the first coming out, for a proud goal admirably made by the young Samuel Díaz.
At the beginning of the 1910s it was used by the Gijón Sport Club as a ground for the matches and championships it organized, and since 1913 there have been references to its use by Real Sporting de Gijón, then called Sporting Gijonés. The first national competition match was played on April 22, 1917 between Sporting and Arenas Club; It corresponded to the first round of the Spanish Championship and Arenas beat 0-1. That same year various improvements were made to the field: the construction of a new grandstand, the erection of a wooden palisade and the installation of a gate The conclusion of the same was celebrated on August 5 with an act that included cultural and sports activities, such as a soccer match between the twenty-two best players in the society.
On May 2, 1920, the final of the Spanish Championship was played in El Molinón between Athletic Club and F. C. Barcelona, in which the Catalan team was proclaimed champion of the tournament for the fourth time after winning 2-0. On November 20, 1924, the club acquired it from Dionisio Cifuentes, its landlord, for 40,000 pesetas. Between March and April 1928, new reforms were undertaken on the occasion of the celebration of a friendly match between Spain and Italy, the first between national teams that took place in El Molinón. The stands that the stadium had were moved to one of the ends and two new grandstands were built, one general and one preferential, with which a capacity to hold 15,000 spectators was reached. The reform was carried out by the municipal architect Miguel García de la Cruz. The international meeting took place on April 22 and ended with the result of 1-1. A little more than three years later, on September 27, In 1931, the main stand was destroyed in two thirds due to a fire that occurred after the Regional Championship match between Sporting and Racing Santander. Given Sporting's precarious financial situation and the costs of reconstruction, the club he sold it to the City Council in 1935. In December 1968, four turrets were installed that provided the stadium with artificial light, essential for playing matches at night. The first match played under artificial lighting between Sporting and C. D. Mestalla.
On November 30, 1969, the roofs of the general and south stands were inaugurated, making El Molinón the first soccer field in Spain with all the stands covered. On February 8, 1970, the first live television broadcast from El Molinón took place: a match between Sporting and C. A. Osasuna; This was also the first Second Division game to be offered live on television, and the first televised in Asturias. Sporting won 3-0, with two goals from Marañón and one from Herrero II.
On November 25, 1979, in a match played between Sporting and Real Madrid C.F., one of the most popular shouts of Spanish football was generated in the stands of El Molinón: So, so, so Madrid wins, a chant that has become famous to criticize the supposed arbitration aid to the white club and that, later, Madrid fans adopted to celebrate their team's victories. Seven minutes after that game, a challenge from San José to Ferrero was left without penalty and, when the rojiblanco made a contemptuous gesture at the madridista, the referee of the match, Ausocúa Sanz, sent off the sportinguista.
On the occasion of the works for the 1982 World Cup, a great reform was faced. The east and south stands were raised, and a capacity of almost 45,000 was reached; 16,600 of them, seated. However, two years after the world championship, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry decided to reduce the capacity of El Molinón to 38,000 spectators for security reasons. On June 25, 1982, the last match of group B of the first round of the competition was played at El Molinón, between the German and Austrian teams; the Germans, after losing to Algeria in the first game, needed to win to qualify for the second round, while the Austrians would qualify even if they lost 1-0, as it was a four-point tie between Germany, Austria and Algeria, which ranked the top two on goal difference. And that was what happened. After the first German goal, the work of Hrubesch in the 10th minute, the game turned into a party between two rivals who just wanted time to pass and qualify for the next phase. FIFA launched an investigation into the events but was unable to reach any conclusion. Of course, to avoid more problems in the next edition of the World Cup, Mexico 1986, it was established that on the last day of the first phase the two games of each group would be played simultaneously, as is still done today. The following day, the local press published a chronicle of the match in the Events section, referring to it as a scam involving 40,000 people.
Between 1997 and 1998, works were also carried out on the field to adapt it to the safety regulations established by UEFA and FIFA for professional football stadiums. In this way, all the seats were made and the security fences were removed, reaching a capacity of 25,885 spectators. The stands were also divided into independent sectors and security cameras were installed. In 2006, a new comprehensive remodeling project for the stadium was announced, which affected, among other things, its exterior image, in which the artist Joaquín Vaquero Turcios collaborated. The reform was financed, on the one hand, with the privatization of the existing premises under the stands, since a company exploits them commercially and, on the other, with municipal funds. The project included the reinforcement of the structure of the entire stadium, the expansion of the north end and an area of the west stand, the change of all the stadium roofs, the creation of new changing rooms and mixed areas for the press, radio and television, as well as a room for interviews. All the seats for the public were also replaced, which went from having a layout in which they formed vertical red and white stripes to another in gradient: there is a greater presence of red seats near the pitch, while the number of white seats increases as you go up the stands.
With all these improvements, the stadium underwent a radical change in its external appearance and in all its facilities, and was approved with category 3 by UEFA. In addition, the total capacity increased to 30,000 spectators.
On February 28, 2018, one day after Quini's death, the Gijón City Council unanimously approved to change its official name to Estadio Municipal El Molinón-Enrique Castro "Quini" as a tribute to his figure.
On June 25, 2022, the stadium was the scene, for the first time in its more than 110 years of history, of a rugby match, in which the Spanish national team, known as the XV del León, faced each other and the international team Barbarian F.C. The match ended 27-6, a victory for the Barbarians.
In 2022, the new owner of Real Sporting, the Mexican Grupo Orlegi, proposes the reconstruction of the stadium in view of the Spanish-Portuguese-Ukrainian candidacy for the 2030 World Cup. In their initial study they present the construction of a new €300 million enclosure and the total conversion of the surrounding space into green areas.
Sectors of the stadium
El Molinón has 29,035 seats —not counting the VIP, presidential and press boxes, nor the area for the disabled— divided into ten main stands, which in turn are divided into sectors:
- High West Tribune
- West Tribune
- Tribune this
- Grada este
- Northern Tribe
- North Grade
- South Tribune
- South Grade (where the "Grada 1908" animation graph is located for children under 26 years)
- North corner
- South corner
International matches
Spanish team
The Spanish team has played eleven matches at El Molinón, making Gijón the fifth city in the country that has hosted the most matches for the national team, with seven friendly matches and four in official competition: three qualifiers for a Copa del World and one for a Eurocup.
Friendly; 22 April 1928 | Spain ![]() | 1:1 (1:0) | ![]() | |||
Quesada ![]() | Report | Libonatti ![]() | Arbitrator: René Mercet (Switzerland) | |||
Friendly; 29 March 1978 | Spain ![]() | 3:0 (2:0) | ![]() | |||
Quini ![]() ![]() Villar ![]() | Report | Assistance: 25 000 spectators Arbitrator: Vojtech Christov (Checoslovaquia) | ||||
Friendly; 16 April 1980 | Spain ![]() | 2:2 (0:1) | ![]() | |||
Migueli ![]() Quini ![]() | Report | Nehoda ![]() ![]() | Assistance: 25 000 spectators Arbitrator: Heinz Fahnler (Austria) | |||
Friendly; 24 September 1986 | Spain ![]() | 3:1 (2:0) | ![]() | |||
July Salinas ![]() Francisco ![]() Victor Muñoz ![]() | Report | Skartados ![]() | Assistance: 17 500 spectators Arbitrator: Alain Delair (France) | |||
Friendly; 12 September 1990 | Spain ![]() | 3:0 (1:0) | ![]() | |||
Carlos ![]() Fernando ![]() Michel ![]() | Report | Assistance: 22 000 spectators Arbitrator: Pietro D'Elia (Italy) | ||||
Clasif. 1998 World Cup; 11 October 1997 | Spain ![]() | 3:1 (2:1) | ![]() | |||
Luis Enrique ![]() ![]() Oli ![]() | Report | Hansen ![]() | Assistance: 25 000 spectators Arbitrator: Jacek Granat (Poland) | |||
Friendly; 31 March 2004 | Spain ![]() | 2:0 (1:0) | ![]() | |||
Deaths ![]() Raúl ![]() | Report | Assistance: 25 000 spectators Arbitrator: Antonio Manuel Almeida Costa (Portugal) | ||||
Friendly; 17 August 2005 | Spain ![]() | 2:0 (2:0) | ![]() | |||
Pablo García ![]() Vicente ![]() | Report | Assistance: 25 000 spectators Arbitrator: Olegário Benquerença (Portugal) | ||||
Clasif. 2014 World Cup; 22 March 2013 | Spain ![]() | 1:1 (0:0) | ![]() | |||
Sergio Ramos ![]() | Report | Pukki ![]() | Assistance: 30,000 viewers Arbitrator: Ovidiu Alin Hategan (Romania) | |||
Clasif. 2018 World Cup; March 24, 2017 | Spain ![]() | 4:1 (2:0) | ![]() | |||
Silva ![]() Vitolo ![]() Diego Costa ![]() Isco ![]() | Report | Rafaelov ![]() | Attendance: 20 321 spectators Arbitrator: Michael Oliver (England) | |||
Clasif. Euro 2020; 8 September 2019 | Spain ![]() | 4:0 (1:0) | ![]() | |||
Rodrigo ![]() ![]() Alcácer ![]() ![]() | Report | Attendance: 23 644 spectators Arbitrator: Krzysztof Jakubik (Poland) | ||||
1982 World Cup
Gijón was one of the fourteen sub-venues and El Molinón one of the seventeen stadiums that hosted the 1982 World Cup. 45,000 viewers. Three group 2 matches were played in this venue during the first phase of the championship.
1982 Football World Cup; 16 June 1982 | Federal ![]() | 1:2 (0:0) | ![]() | |||
Rummenigge ![]() | Report | Madjer ![]() Belloumi ![]() | Assistance: 42 000 spectators Arbitrator: Enrique Labo Revoredo (Peru) | |||
1982 Football World Cup; 20 June 1982 | Federal ![]() | 4:1 (1:0) | ![]() | |||
Rummenigge ![]() ![]() ![]() Reinders ![]() | Report | Moscoso ![]() | Assistance: 42 000 spectators Arbitrator: Bruno Galler (Switzerland) | |||
1982 Football World Cup; 25 June 1982 | Federal ![]() | 1:0 (1:0) | ![]() | |||
Hrubesch ![]() | Report | Assistance: 41 000 spectators Arbitrator: Bob Valentine (Scotland) | ||||
Concerts
The El Molinón stadium has hosted, in addition to sporting events, all kinds of concerts, including:
- Tina Turner (1990)
- Sting (1991)
- Dire Straits (1992)
- Bruce Springsteen (1993, 2003, 2013)
- The Rolling Stones (1995)
- Bon Jovi (1996)
- Paul McCartney (2004)
- National artists such as: Vetusta Morla, IZAL, Love of Lesbian, Alejandro Sanz, Víctor Manuel, Miguel Ríos or Joan Manuel Serrat.
Commercial basses
The commercial ground floor areas of the stadium are operated by the company Molinón Espacio Urbano S.L. The city council of Gijón, owner of the stadium since 1935, awarded the administrative concession contract for the project for the use and exploitation of the premises in September 2006 for a period of 40 years, extendable to 60, to the company Ruta de El Molinón, and in June 2009 the government of Paz Fernández Felgueroso terminated the contract after making two requirements to Ruta de El Molinón regarding non-compliance with deadlines and works committed in their project. The project passes into the hands of Proyectos, Construcciones e Interiorismo, S.A. ( PROCOIN), which in 2015 sold 80% of its stake to Santa Gadea, S.A., through Molinón Espacio Urbano S.L., and in 2018 the remaining 20%. In 2019 Santa Gadea, S.A. sold Molinón Espacio Urbano S.L. to the owners of Cafento SLU (previously called Cafes El Gallego S.L.).