Cádiz is the oldest inhabited city in Iberia. It is also home to the Spanish navy and one of southern Europe’s largest commercial ports. All crammed onto a thin strip of land on Spain’s southern Atlantic coast, you could be forgiven for thinking that this mix of ancient culture and commercial and naval dockyards make Cádiz a bit edgy. Well, nothing could be further from the truth, as the citizens of Cádiz and in particular, the followers of Cádiz Club de Fútbol are among the most passionate and friendly in the land. All of which makes the Nuevo Mirandilla (Previously called Estadio Ramón de Carranza), a fantastic place to watch football.

There is much conjuncture about the date on which club was founded. Some can trace the club back to 1903, others 1908. Whatever the correct date, Mirandilla Foot-ball Club, as they were then known, started out at the Colegio Arcángel San Miguel before moving to the Campo de Las Balas in 1923. The club registered with the Andalucian Federation in 1931, which also saw a move to the Campo de Velodrome, where they stayed for two seasons. In 1933, the municipality built an enclosed ground next to the city’s Plaza del Toros.

The Campo de Deportes Mirandilla opened on 27 August 1933 with a match againstReal Betis. This basic ground served the club as the home for twenty-two years, during which time Cádiz Foot-ball Club , as they became known in 1936, gained promotion to La Segunda and in the first season following the Civil War, just missed out on promotion to La Primera. Normal service was resumed shortly afterward, as Cádiz CF slipped back into the Tercera in 1943. This square enclosure in the shadow of the city’s bullring had four narrow, open terraces, with the only cover being provided by canvas sheets stretched over the directors’ area. The ground was damaged following a massive explosion in the navy dockyards in August 1947 and whilst they played on at the ground for another 8 years, it prompted the club to look for a new home. The Campo de Deportes Mirandilla was given an emotional send-off when the club won promotion at the end of the 1954-55 season.

Work had begun in May 1954 on a new stadium on the southern edge of town. Designed by Manuel Muñoz Monasterio and Fernandez Pujol, who worked together on the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, the stadium consisted of a ring of terracing around the pitch, with a raised tribuna on the western side. The ground was oval in shape and had a capacity of 15,000. On the east side was an Olympic Tower, or La Torre de Preferencia as the locals called it. It opened on 3 September 1955 with a friendly againstBarcelona. The following day saw the inaugural staging of the Trofeo Ramón de Carranza. Like the stadium, it was named after the club president and mayor of Cádiz, who was instrumental in the building of the stadium. The tournament quickly became the most prestigious pre-season tournament in Spain, and the money raised through gate receipts helped Cádiz CF tremendously.

Cádiz CF stayed in La Segunda for all but one of the next 22 seasons, the only blemish being a season-long trip to the Tercera in 1969-70. During this period, the club never effectively challenged for promotion, but that all changed when the club claimed the runners-up spot and promotion to the top flight in 1976-77. Their first season in La Primera ended in relegation, with the club bottom and eight points from safety. However, Cádiz CF, liked the taste of La Primera and over the following eight seasons, won promotion to the first division on three occasions. Central to this upturn was the enigmatic talent of Salvadoran forward, Magico Gonzalez. The stadium underwent a 400 million peseta redevelopment in 1984 that saw a roof added to the west tribuna and the complete rebuilding of the northern fondo, which eliminated the curved end and brought the fans closer to the pitch. La Selección visited the Ramón de Carranza on three occasions between 1979 and 1986 and tested the new capacity of 23,000. Cádiz CF made the most of their improved surroundings and ran up eight consecutive seasons in La Primera from 1985-86, albeit eight consecutive fights against relegation. The club finally fell to La Segunda in May 1993 and a year later, dropped a further level to Segunda B.

The remainder of the 1990s rarely saw Cádiz CF challenge the leaders, but the start of the new millennium brought new hope when the club won the Segunda B Group VI title, only to lose out toGimnàstic de Tarragona in the playoffs. In February 2002 the club announced that the stadium would undergo a major rebuilding programme. The project was to be funded by private money, with a sizeable sum coming from the sale of commercial outlets within the body of the new stands. However, as the project neared completion, it was funds from the local municipality that helped complete the build. On 31 March 2003, work began on demolishing the south fondo, with the east preferencia and Olympic tower following in the summer. In their place rose two twin-decked open stands, with broad bands of yellow and blue seats. The new stand on the east side was flanked by two corner towers that housed office space that overlooked the pitch. Delays in financing and construction meant that the new stands did not officially open until 3 August 2005. Just in time for Cádiz CF’s return to the Primera for the 2005-06 season. La Selección paid a visit to the lop-sided ground in November 2006 but lost 0-1 to Romania.

For the fourth time in the club’s history, their stay in La Primera lasted just the one season. A lack of goals and rather worryingly, poor home form saw the club finish one place from the bottom of the table. Relegation to the La Segunda did not deter the club from rebuilding the North Fondo. Work began on 20 November 2006 on a replacement that would be identical to the South Fondo. This took the better part of two years to complete and when it did open on 13 August 2008, Cádiz CF had fallen a further level to Segunda B. A quick return to the second tier was followed by an equally quick drop back to the third level, all of which played havoc with the club finances. Despite teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, Cádiz CF and the local municipality ploughed on with the final phase of the rebuilding , which would see a replacement for the ageing west tribuna, and corner stands to link the whole development together.

Work began on the new tribuna in the spring of 2011 and was finally completed in July 2012. It was too late to assist Cádiz CF in a push for promotion back to La Segunda, where they lost on penalties toCD Lugo in the final. The new stand took the capacity up to 25,033 but cost €26m. It’s just as well that it looks stunning with two tiers of yellow & blue seats sandwiching two rows of corporate hospitality boxes. Particularly impressive is the way that the floodlights have been incorporated into the fascia of the roof, looking like a sleek and extremely expensive cooker hood. The whole project cost upwards of €80m and the municipality’s focus turned to selling as much of the hotel, retail & office space that occupies the guts of the stadium. The new Tribuna was unofficially opened when the Spanish Olympic team played their Mexican counterparts on 18 July 2012, in a warm-up match before the 2012 London Olympics. The Spanish National Team returned to Cádiz in November 2019, beating Malta 7-0 in a Euro 2020 qualifier. In 2021, the local municipality enacted the Ley de Memoria Histórica de España, and removed the stadium’s reference to Ramón de Carranza. Following a vote, the stadium was renamed the Estadio Nuevo Mirandilla.

Now at this point, I should declare more than a passing interest in the Estadio Nuevo Mirandilla. Back in 2003, when it was still known as the Ramón de Carranza, I did some work as a consultant for a well-known football managerial video game, and this hotchpotch of a stadium was the first that I worked on. Back then the stadium looked tired, with its roof corroded by the salty Atlantic air, but now? Well, it is simply fantastic. Its tight lines and steep sides, mixed with passionate home support, turn it into a formidable fortress. With the stadium complete and fully enclosed, it did finally get an outing in La Primera when Cádiz CF won promotion back to the top flight in 2020. Four seasons on lower table finishes concluded with relegation back to La Segunda in 2024. With over 40 seasons in Spain’s second tier, that would appear to be the club’s natural level, broken by oscasional forays into La Primera. Oh, how they could do with a Magico Gonzalez now?