SAN MAMÉS, WELCOME TO THE FOOTBALL CATHEDRAL

Yesterday, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma enjoyed the 2024 UWCL Final in San Mamés Stadium, also known as The Cathedral.

The San Mamés Stadium also known as San Mames Barria is an all-seater football stadium in Rafael Moreno Pitxitxi Kalea, Bilbao, Basque Country.

 

Inaugurated on 16 September 2013, the stadium replaced the old San Mamés as the home of Athletic Bilbao. With a capacity of 53,331 seats, San Mamés is the largest in the Basque Country. The first stages of planning occurred as early as 2004, with initial contracts signed late on in 2006, after receiving approval to build in March 2006. The new stadium was to be built next to the existing San Mamés on land that was occupied until 2003 by the Bilbao International Trade Fair.

On 26 May 2010 at 12:00 the ground-breaking ceremony took place at San Mamés. In a symbolic display, a piece of turf and a brick from the facade were removed from the old stadium and carried to the adjacent construction site by a human chain including famous players Iribar, Larrazábal, Iturraspe and Muniain as well as members of the youth system, the women's team, the reserve team and its oldest and youngest registered supporters.

Initially, three-quarters of the new stadium were built and then matches took place in it, while the old one was demolished to make room to complete the new arena.

Despite the economical woes the country was going through at the time, especially the Basque people, 52.6% of the total €211 million cost of the stadium was paid by public institution -some by the Basque Government (€50m), some by the Bilbao City Council (€11m) and some by the Biscay Provincial Council (€50m including land), as well as Athletic (€50m including land) and BBK/Kutxabank (€50m), on the proviso that the stadium would include facilities for use by the public such as a sports centre.

San Mamés was inaugurated on 16 September 2013, 102 days after the final game at the old stadium. At that time the official capacity of the partially completed arena was 35,686. The first match was a league match played at 22:00 between the hosts Athletic Club and Celta Vigo, which the local team won 3-2. A crowd of 33,000 was in attendance.  Prior to the match, the captains of each of the club's age group teams, club captain Carlos Gurpegui and president Josu Urrutia took part in a short presentation accompanied by a traditional Aurresku dance.

On 16 July 2021, the UEFA Executive Committee announced that due to the withdrawal of hosting rights for Euro 2020, San Mamés was given hosting rights for the 2024 UEFA Women's Champions League final and the 2025 UEFA Europa League final. This was part of a settlement agreement by UEFA to recognise the efforts and financial investment made to host UEFA Euro 2020.

More information: Athletic Club

Athletic, Athletic, Athletic eup!
Athletic, gorri ta zuria
danontzat zara zu geuria
Erritik sortu ziñalako
maite zaitu erriak .

Athletic, Athletic, Athletic eup!
Athletic, red and white
for all of us you are yourself
Because it was born from the town
the people love you.

Athletic Bilbao Anthem