El Molinón

El Molinón
Full name	Estadio Municipal El Molinón
Owners	Ayuntamiento de Gijón
Location	Gijón, Spain
Opened	1908
Renovated	1997–98
Expanded	1980–81, 2009–10
Tenants	Sporting de Gijón (1917–present)
Capacity	30,000
Field dimensions	105 m × 68 m (344 ft × 223 ft)
Surface	Grass
Highest attendance	42,000

Estadio El Molinón is an association football stadium in Gijón, Asturias-Spain. The stadium is the home ground of Real Sporting de Gijón.

History

El Molinón is the oldest professional football field in Spain. It has been in use since at least 1908, and is located on the site of an old watermill, hence the stadium's name, the Asturian word for "big mill".

Real Sporting started to use El Molinón as official ground in 1917. The first official match was held on April 22, 1917 between Real Sporting and Arenas Club de Getxo as part of the 1917 Copa del Rey. Arenas won 0-1. On 2 May 1920, El Molinón held the 1920 Copa del Rey Final, where FC Barcelona defeated Athletic Bilbao by 2–0.

In 1924 Real Sporting bought El Molinón and became the owner of the stadium. In 1931 the main stand was destroyed by fire, but it was later re-built. In 1944, Gijón City Hall re-bought El Molinón due to Sporting's bad financial situation.

In 1968 four floodlights were installed at El Molinón and the first night match was played against Valencia CF. On 30 November 1969, El Molinón became the first all-covered stadium in Spain and on 28 January 1970, the first match to be televised in Spain was played at El Molinón. Sporting defeated Osasuna by 3–0.

During 1997–98, El Molinón prepared to adapt to the new UEFA and FIFA security legislation: all people must be seated and the fences must be removed. The stadium's capacity was reduced from 42,000 to 25,885. However, plans were put forward for the stadium to be renovated and expanded. After the expansion between 2009 and 2011, El Molinón's capacity again grew to 30,000 seats.

International matches

The first international match in El Molinón was held on 22 April 1928 between Spain and Italy. El Molinón had that day a capacity about 36,000 people. The match finished 1–1.

50 years later, El Molinón held again another international match between Spain and Czechoslovakia.

On 22 March 2013, El Molinón held a World Cup Qualifying match between Spain and Finland. The match finished in a 1-1 draw.

Apart from Spain matches, in this stadium Sporting played all of its UEFA Cup matches, including the win against A.C. Milan by 1–0 on 30 September 1987.

1982 FIFA World Cup

The stadium played host to three matches in Group B. Two of them were infamous in the 1982 World Cup, West Germany's shock 1-2 defeat to Algeria being the first. After the result of Algeria's final group game was known, a rather uncontested 1-0 victory of West Germany against Austria which sent both teams through at Algeria's expense. In German the match is known as Nichtangriffspakt von Gijón (lit. Non-aggression pact of Gijón) or Schande von Gijón (lit. Shame of Gijón). This shameful game at Gijon directly led to a change of the rules, requiring the last matches in the group phase to be played simultaneously.

16 June 1982 17:15 CEST	West Germany	1 – 2	Algeria	El Molinón, Gijón Attendance: 42,000 Referee: Enrique Labo Revoredo (Peru)
	Rummenigge  67'	Report	Madjer  54' Belloumi  68'

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20 June 1982 17:15 CEST	West Germany	4 – 1	Chile	El Molinón, Gijón Attendance: 42,000 Referee: Bruno Galler (Switzerland)
	Rummenigge  9', 57', 66' Reinders  81'	Report	Moscoso  90'

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25 June 1982 17:15 CEST	West Germany	1 – 0	Austria	El Molinón, Gijón Attendance: 41,000 Referee: Bob Valentine (Scotland)
	Hrubesch  10'	Report

All Spain matches at El Molinón

Data	Opponent	Score	Competition
22 April 1928	Italy	1–1	Friendly match
29 March 1978	Norway	3–0	Friendly match
16 April 1980	Czechoslovakia	2–2	Friendly match
24 September 1986	Greece	3–1	Friendly match
12 September 1990	Brazil	3–1	Friendly match
11 October 1997	Faroe Islands	3–1	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)
31 March 2004	Denmark	2–0	Friendly match
17 August 2005	Uruguay	2–0	Friendly match
22 March 2013	Finland	1–1	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

External links

• El Molinón at Sporting website
• Stadium image
• Stadium featured on Estadios de España