La Catedral Katedrala | |
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 Interactive map of San Mamés | |
| Full name | San Mamés |
|---|---|
| Location | Bilbao,Basque Country,Spain |
| Coordinates | 43°15′51″N2°57′01″W / 43.2643°N 2.9504°W /43.2643; -2.9504 |
| Public transit |
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| Owner | San Mamés Barria, S.L.[1] |
| Operator | Athletic Bilbao |
| Capacity | 53,331[2] |
| Record attendance | (Football) 52,114 (Athletic Bilbao vsRangers, 17 April 2025)[3] (Rugby) 52,282 (Leinster vsRacing 92, 12 May 2018)[4] |
| Field size | 105 m × 68 m (344 ft × 223 ft) |
| Surface | Grass hybrid |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 26 May 2010 |
| Built | 16 September 2013 (1st phase) 25 August 2014 (complete stadium) |
| Opened | 16 September 2013 |
| Construction cost | €211 million |
| Architect |
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| Project manager | IDOM |
| Tenants | |
| Athletic Bilbao (2013–present) Athletic Bilbao B (2015–2016) Basque Country national football team (2013–present) | |
TheSan Mamés Stadium (also known asNuevo San Mamés orSan Mames Barria) is anall-seaterfootballstadium in Rafael Moreno Pitxitxi Kalea,Bilbao,Basque Country,Spain. Inaugurated on 16 September 2013, the stadium replaced the"old" San Mamés as the home ofAthletic Bilbao. With a capacity of 53,331 seats, San Mamés is the seventh-largest stadium in Spain and the largest in theBasque Country.
The first stages of planning occurred as early as 2004,[5] 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 atSan Mamés.[6] The event was attended by: theLehendakari of theBasque Country,Patxi López; the Deputy-General ofBiscay, José Luis Bilbao; the Mayor of Bilbao, Iñaki Azkuna; the Chairman ofBilbao Bizkaia Kutxa, Mario Fernández; the President of theRoyal Spanish Football Federation,Ángel María Villar and the President of Athletic Club,Fernando García Macua.
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 playersIribar,Larrazábal,Iturraspe andMuniain as well as members of theyouth system, thewomen's team, thereserve team and its oldest and youngest registered supporters.[7]
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.[5]
Despite the economical woes the country was going through at the time, especially the Basque people, 52.6% of the total €211 million (£178 million) cost of the stadium was paid by public institution - some by theBasque Government (€50m), some by theBilbao City Council (€11m) and some by theBiscay Provincial Council (€50m including land), as well as Athletic (€50m including land) andBBK/Kutxabank (€50m), on the proviso that the stadium would include facilities for use by the public such as asports centre.[8] It had been believed that theEuropean Commission were investigating this use of public funds for any possible impropriety in the deal, but in late 2013 it was confirmed byJoaquín Almunia, the commissioner for competition at the time (and an Athletic supporter from Bilbao), that no such case was being pursued.[9]
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.[10] The first match was aleague match played at 22:00 between the hosts Athletic Club andCelta Vigo, which the local team won 3–2. A crowd of 33,000 was in attendance.[11] The distinction of being the first ever goalscorer at the stadium went to Celta'sCharles, while the first Athletic scorer wasMikel San José a few minutes later. Prior to the match, the captains of each of the club's age group teams, club captainCarlos Gurpegui and presidentJosu Urrutia took part in a short presentation accompanied by a traditionalAurresku dance.[12]
The Celta match was Athletic's second home fixture ofthat season. As the new stadium was not quite ready, their opening game of the campaign (a 2–0 win overOsasuna) was played atAnoeta inDonostia-San Sebastián, home of rivalsReal Sociedad.[13][14][15]
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The first match in the stadium under its full capacity was aChampions League playoff tie againstNapoli on 27 August 2014, attended by 49,017. Athletic won 3–1 to progress to the group stage of the competition.[16]
Since the stadium's opening, supporters had frequently voiced their displeasure at the roof, which did not protect all seats from Bilbao's frequently rainy conditions. Towards the end of the2015–16 season, throughout the summer break and at the outset of2016–17, extensions were added to the roof at a cost (borne solely by the club) of €12.6 million, estimated to increase the effectiveness against wet weather by 70%.[17][5] On 20 November 2016 the works were completed and the roof extension was fully functional in the 1–0 victory againstVillarreal in aLa Liga match.[18][19] The lack of sunlight onto the pitch from the roof is offset by internal lighting modules which maintain the condition and growth of the turf, a system used in other Spanish stadiums.[20] The extension design won an international structural engineering award in 2017.[21]
The stadium is equipped with a sophisticated lighting system on its exterior which can be programmed to illuminate the hundreds of panels on its facade (which by day are white) in solid colours, or to show flashing or moving graphics (such as when a goal is scored, or theUEFA Champions League star-ball motif when Athletic qualified for that competition). It has similarities in this respect with theAllianz Arena in Munich.[20][22][23]
It is also situated closer to theNervión than its predecessor, overlooking the river from a high bank. Its elevated position presents a striking image of the stadium, particularly when illuminated.[5]
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Since 2015 the stadium has also featured a giant external video screen (15.5m X 9.8m), placed in a prominent position at the same point where the original San Mamés featured a large club crest.[24] It looks onto thePozas, a street running to the stadium from the heart of the city which is a popular walking route for fans on matchdays and is lined with Athletic-themed bars.
It is a club tradition for captains of teams visiting the Athletic ground for the first time pay homage to the fallen idol of its early years,Pichichi, by leaving a bouquet of flowers at a bust of the player. In the old stadium, this was situated near the directors' box. Despite concerns that this iconic feature might not be accommodated at the new stadium,[25] a suitable spot was identified at the entrance to the players' tunnel, allowing the tradition to continue at the new location from 2013 onwards.[26]
In August 2017, Athletic opened their new club museum at the stadium.[27][28] The feature had been absent since the closure of the old stadium over four years earlier.[29] Among the prominent features of the museum is a stuffed lion (the club nickname) 'won' from the president ofAlavés in 1984 after he lost a bet with the Athletic directors that the club would not be able to repeat their1982–83 La Liga win thefollowing season.[30]
Safe standing rail seats were installed in part of the north stand in 2019,[31] later expanded into a 'singing section' across the whole lower tier at that end of the ground in 2022.[32]
As part of the club's 125th anniversary celebrations in 2023, a subtle feature was unveiled in the open space outside the stadium depicting the exact placement of the goal lines of the old pitch,[33] followed later by a statue of the appearance record holderJosé Ángel Iribar.[34][35]
The new San Mamés was the venue for threefriendly fixtures played by theunofficial Basque Country team between 2013 and 2016.
A 'beam back' event was held at the stadium in May 2015 for the2015 Copa del Rey final for fans who could not attend the game inBarcelona, with giant video screens installed on the pitch that the spectators could view from the stands.
On 5 November 2015, San Mamés was awarded as the Sports Building of the Year in theWorld Architecture Festival held in Singapore.[36]
In 2017, there was a realistic possibility that the stadium could host theCopa del Rey final for the first time afterAlavés from nearbyVitoria-Gasteiz qualified for the showpiece game to faceBarcelona. However, the stadium's controlling agency announced that it would not be feasible to accommodate the final on 27 May due to holding aGuns N' Roses concert on 30 May.[37] The Copa final was subsequently assigned to theVicente Calderón Stadium in Madrid, the 14th time that venue has hosted the final but significant due to it being one of the last matches prior to its replacement by the rebuiltEstadio Metropolitano.
The stadium hosted the2018 finals of theEuropean Rugby Challenge Cup andChampions Cup. The match between Leinster and Racing 92 set the stadium's single-game attendance record at 52,282.[4][38] The 2026 finals are due to return to the stadium
The stadium hosted a MTV World Stage concert headlined byBerri Txarrak,Muse andCrystal Fighters on 3 November 2018, as part of the events related to the2018 MTV Europe Music Awards being held in Bilbao.[39]
On 30 January 2019, San Mamés hosted aCopa de la Reina match betweenAthletic Bilbao andAtlético Madrid that beat the Spanish attendance record for a women's football match with 48,121 spectators.[40][41]
The neutralised start of stage 13 in the2019 Vuelta a España included a lap of the pitch by the race director's car followed by the riders. Although a large crowd had gathered outside the stadium, the public were not allowed inside to view the event. Two cyclists (Edward Theuns andPierre Latour) dismounted to mime taking a penalty. A similar event had preceded stage 5 of the2017 Tour of the Basque Country.[42] TheGrand Départ (race start) of the2023 Tour de France took place outside the stadium.[43]
On 19 September 2014, San Mamés was selected as one of the 13 venues to host matches atUEFA Euro 2020. It was to host three group stage matches and one round of 16 match in the tournament.[44]Spain would have played all their group matches at the stadium, the first time the national team played in the Basque Country for more than 50 years (the old San Mamés hosted six games between 1921 and 1967[45] and a single fixture was played inSan Sebastián in 1923).[46] However, ultimately San Mamés was replaced byLa Cartuja inSeville due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in Spain, with infection rates higher in the Basque Country than in Andalusia at the time of making final arrangements for the tournament in April 2021.[47]
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 the2024 UEFA Women's Champions League final and the2025 UEFA Europa League final.[48] This was part of a settlement agreement by UEFA to recognise the efforts and financial investment made to host UEFA Euro 2020.
The2025 UEFA Europa League final was hosted at the stadium, whichTottenham Hotspur won, defeatingPremier League rivalsManchester United 1-0. The only goal of the match was scored byBrennan Johnson.
| Concerts at San Mamés Stadium | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Artist | Tour | Attendance |
| 30 May 2017 | Guns N' Roses | Not in This Lifetime... Tour | 27,955 |
| 11 June 2022 | Fito & Fitipaldis | Cada vez cadáver Tour | 46,822 |
| 3 July 2022 | Metallica | Metallica 2021–2022 Tour | TBA |
The stadium is well served by public transport: it is located across the street from the city'sTermibus regionalbus station, and has a dedicated station -San Mamés (Metro Bilbao) which links theBilbao tram,metro/underground andcommuter rail networks. The majorAP-8 road is also nearby. The stadium is also within a reasonable walking distance from most areas of the city centre, e.g. approximately 2 km fromCasco Viejo (the old town).
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| Preceded by | European Rugby Champions Cup Final venue 2017–18 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | UEFA Women's Champions League Final venue 2024 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | UEFA Europa League Final venue 2025 | Succeeded by |
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