Los Cármenes · Profile

The Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes is in the Zaidín district of Granada, Spain, next to the city's Palacio de los Deportes, with its main front on Calle Pintor Manuel Maldonado. The City Council of Granada owns it, and Granada Club de Fútbol has played there since 1995. It has a natural grass pitch and seats just over 19,000. The name comes from the carmen, the Granada house with an orchard and garden that is typical of the Albaicín quarter. The club's previous ground had the same name.

From the old ground to the new one

For decades Granada played at the old Los Cármenes, a ground near the city's bullring. In the late twentieth century the club sold that land for building to pay off its debts, so the city needed a new venue. Construction ran from 1993 to 1995 on a block in Zaidín bordered by Calle Torre de Comares, Paseo de Carlos V and Avenida de Salvador Allende. Since then the stadium has been run under agreements between the club and the City Council. One of them was signed on 25 October 2012.

The 1995 opening

The stadium opened on 16 May 1995. The first match was played on 6 June that year: a friendly in which Real Madrid beat Bayer Leverkusen 1-0, with a goal from the Slovak Peter Dubovský. The first official game was played by the Spain under-21 side, who beat Armenia 4-0. Granada first played at their new home on 22 August 1995, in the 23rd Ciudad de Granada Trophy, and beat Real Betis 4-1. That summer the ground also started hosting the Trofeo Los Cármenes, the club's pre-season tournament.

The Spain national team and Albania in 1997

The Spain senior side played its first competitive match at the stadium on 6 September 1995, beating Cyprus 6-0 in qualifying for Euro 96. On 25 March 2011, in Euro 2012 qualifying, Spain beat the Czech Republic 2-1. That night Xavi Hernández won his 100th cap, and David Villa scored both goals to overtake Raúl as the national team's all-time top scorer. On 12 November 2016, in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, Spain beat Macedonia 4-0. One of the goals came from Aritz Aduriz, who became the oldest player to score for Spain. In 1997 Albania played two home qualifiers for the 1998 World Cup in Granada, losing 0-1 to Ukraine on 29 March and 2-3 to Germany on 2 April.

Other events and renovations

In February 1996 the stadium hosted the opening ceremony of the Alpine World Ski Championships in Sierra Nevada. It has also staged concerts. After Granada's promotion to the Spanish top flight, the summer of 2019 brought one of the biggest renovations since the stadium opened: LED lighting on the towers, the roof and the stands, new red seats with lettering, an improved pitch and an official club shop. The ground is served by Line 1 of the Granada Metro, which has a stop called Nuevo Los Cármenes, and by city bus route 8.

Promotions and European nights

On 15 June 2011 Granada drew 0-0 with Elche at the stadium in the first leg of the promotion play-off final. A 1-1 draw in the return leg in Elche sent Granada up on away goals and took the club back to the top flight after 35 years. In 2019 the team went up automatically after finishing second in the Spanish second division. In the 2020-21 season the stadium hosted Granada's first European matches. In the Europa League, they beat Napoli 2-0 in the first leg of the round of 32 on 18 February 2021 and Molde 2-0 in the first leg of the round of 16 on 11 March. In the first leg of the quarter-final, on 8 April 2021, they lost 0-2 to Manchester United. In 2023 Granada won the Spanish second division with 75 points, earning the club's seventh promotion to the top flight and its fourth title in that division.