Estadio José Zorrilla () is a municipally-owned football stadium in

Valladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peo ...

, Spain. The capacity of the stadium is 26,451 seats, making it the 22nd-largest stadium in Spain and the largest in Castile and León.

History

The stadium was built in 1982 and is named after poet

José Zorrilla José Zorrilla y Moral () was a Spanish poet and dramatist, who became National Laureate. Biography Zorrilla was born in Valladolid to a magistrate in whom Ferdinand VII placed special confidence. He was educated by the Jesuits at the Rea ...

(1817–1893). Prior to this, they played in the old Estadio José Zorrilla. The first match to be played at the stadium was a Spanish Liga match 20 February 1982 between

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

and

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country of Spain. They are known as ''Los Le ...

which ended in a 1–0 victory for Valladolid, the only goal being scored in the 84th minute by Jorge Alonso. The 1982 Copa del Rey Final was played at the stadium on 13 April, with

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

defeating

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

2–1. During the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 i ...

, three Group D matches (Czechoslovakia–Kuwait, France–Kuwait and France–Czechoslovakia) were played at the Estadio Zorrilla. Pop Superstar

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

performed a sold-out show on September 6, 1997 during his

HIStory World Tour The ''HIS''tory World Tour was the third and final worldwide solo concert tour by American singer and recording artist Michael Jackson, covering Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and North America. The tour included a total of 82 concerts spanning ...

and concluded his European leg of the tour. On 3 June 1997, the Ayuntamiento de Valladolid and Real Valladolid agreed on a new 40-year lease, which also envisioned a potential use by the football club of "hospitality, entertainment and commercial activities" near the stadium, giving way years later to the so-called "Valladolid Arena" project. The construction of a shopping mall was thus given green light in 2008 but the project was suspended by the High Court of Justice of Castile and León in 2012. In 2016, the stadium hosted the

Copa del Rey de Rugby The Copa del Rey de Rugby (previously known as Campeonato de España de Rugby) is the national rugby cup. The competition was founded in 1926 and, currently is the second most important competition after the División de Honor de Rugby. All champi ...

final between SilverStorm El Salvador and VRAC Entrepinares. 26,500 spectators attended to the game beating the record of attendance to a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

match in Spain. The venue underwent refurbishing works in 2019, removing the dry

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

and adding three new rows of seats (increasing the capacity to 26,451).

1982 FIFA World Cup

The stadium was one of the venues of the

, and held the following matches:

References

External links

Estadio José Zorrilla
at Estadios de Espana Football venues in Castile and León Real Valladolid 1982 FIFA World Cup stadiums Multi-purpose stadiums in Spain 1982 establishments in Spain Sports venues completed in 1982 Sports venues in Valladolid {{Spain-sports-venue-stub