RCDE Stadium · Profile

The RCDE Stadium is the home ground of RCD Espanyol. It stands on the boundary between Cornellà de Llobregat and El Prat de Llobregat, in the Barcelona metropolitan area. Construction ended with a symbolic handover of the keys to the club on 5 June 2009, after roughly three and a half years of work, and the original design set its capacity at 40,500 spectators. The stadium was designed by the architects Mark Fenwick and Esteve Gasulla. It opened on 2 August 2009 and has carried four different names under sponsorship deals.

From Sarrià to the Cornellà project

Espanyol played at the Sarrià stadium from 1923 until 1997, when the club sold it to deal with financial difficulties. For the years that followed it was a tenant at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium while it looked for a ground of its own. In 2002 the club bought the land, a 182,000-square-metre plot of which 36,000 square metres were zoned for sport, and launched an international design competition. The first stone was laid on 9 May 2003, and construction began on 30 November 2005.

Opening and first matches

The stadium opened on 2 August 2009 with a friendly against Liverpool, which Espanyol won 3-0. That evening Daniel Jarque wore the captain’s armband for the first time. Six days later, on 8 August, he died at the team’s pre-season training camp in Italy. The first competitive match came on 12 September 2009, in the second round of the league, and ended in a 0-3 defeat to Real Madrid; Esteban Granero scored the first official goal at the ground. Ben Sahar scored the first official goal by an Espanyol player on 23 September 2009, in a 2-1 win over Málaga.

Architecture and facilities

The roof covers both side stands and both ends; only the four corners are open to the sky. Solar panels with an output of 1,113,000 watts were installed on top of it. The pitch is hybrid grass and measures 105 by 68 metres, and the car park has 3,278 spaces. UEFA places the ground in its elite category, the highest tier of its stadium rating. In June 2010, less than a year after it opened, the stadium won Venue of the Year at the Stadium Business Awards in Dublin, with its sustainability and multi-purpose design singled out.

The stadium’s names

From 2009 to 2014 it was called Estadio Cornellà-El Prat. In 2014 the club sold the naming rights to Power8 in a seven-season deal worth 5.5 million euros a year, and the ground became Power8 Stadium. The company went into liquidation in October 2015, and Espanyol terminated the agreement that December, adopting the name RCDE Stadium. A sponsorship deal with Stage Front turned it into Stage Front Stadium in 2023. After that contract was terminated, the ground reverted to RCDE Stadium on 1 July 2024. Gate 21 has been named after Dani Jarque since April 2010, and a sculpture in his memory was unveiled there on 21 January 2012.

Big nights for Espanyol

The record attendance is 40,240, set at Espanyol against Real Madrid on 13 February 2011. On 4 March 2015 the stadium hosted the second leg of a Copa del Rey semi-final, which Athletic Club won 0-2 with goals from Aritz Aduriz and Xabier Etxeita to reach the final. In 2019-20 it staged Europa League matches against Ferencváros and CSKA Moscow, and the 2020-21 season was played behind closed doors. On 23 June 2024 Espanyol sealed promotion back to the Spanish top flight at Cornellà, beating Real Oviedo 2-0 in the second leg of the play-off final.

National teams and concerts

On 26 March 2022 the Spain national team played in Catalonia for the first time in 18 years, beating Albania 2-1 in a friendly in front of 35,444 spectators, with goals from Ferran Torres and Dani Olmo. On 5 June 2022 Peru and New Zealand met there in a friendly that ended 1-0, and on 7 June 2025 Andorra hosted England at Cornellà in a 2026 World Cup qualifier. The ground has also staged concerts, among them The Black Eyed Peas on 3 July 2010, with around 30,000 people, and Rammstein on 1 June 2019, with 33,825. Spain returned to the stadium on 31 March 2026 for a World Cup warm-up friendly against Egypt that finished 0-0.