Zaragoza says goodbye to the old Romareda: “It is the people who make this stadium special, beyond the location”

Pelé, Cruyff, Di Stéfano, Maradona, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have all trodden on the pitch at La Romareda, as have legends who have worn the Real Zaragoza shirt, such as Miguel Pardeza, Carlos Lapetra, Diego Milito, Cafú and Juan Eduardo Esnáider. The ball first started rolling in this stadium in 1957, and 67 years later, this temple of Spanish football is getting a facelift, with the works expected to be completed in 2028. And all of this in a context in which the Zaragoza team is going through the worst moment in its history: this year it is celebrating its twelfth season in the second division. This stadium will host at least one match of the 2030 World Cup, which will take place in Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

Although Real Zaragoza’s first home was the Torrero Stadium, La Romareda has hosted the club’s greatest teams in its history: ‘The Magnificents’, with Lapetra, Marcelino and Canario at the helm; ‘The Zaraguayans’, due to the large presence of Paraguayans; and ‘The Heroes of Paris’, who put Zaragoza’s name in the history of European football. The club from Zaragoza’s trophy cabinet holds nine titles: six Copa del Rey, a Spanish Super Cup, a Fairs Cup and a European Cup Winners’ Cup.

“La Romareda is a meeting place, a temple; if it is renovated it will become an enviable stadium that will continue to hold the memories of all Zaragoza fans,” says Xavi Aguado, the player who has played the most games in history, along with José Luis Violeta, by phone. With 473 games under his belt for the club, the historic defender who won the 1995 Cup Winners’ Cup in Paris supported La Romareda remaining in its place and admits that “going up to the first division will be much bigger than everything that was done in Paris because it will mean returning to the place where we belong.”

Despite being in the second division for over a decade, Real Zaragoza fans are not giving up: 28,000 people bought season tickets last year in a stadium with a capacity of 33,600 seats. Francisco Artigas is one of those season ticket holders who has been at La Romareda all his life, literally all his life because he was with his father at the inauguration, in that match against Osasuna, in which the Blanquillos won 4-3.

“There was no other option but to carry out work on the stadium. It was necessary and urgent because the deterioration is visible. For example, in the place where I sit there were cracks in the walls,” says Artigas by phone. This member of the club from Zaragoza yearns for the old days when Real Zaragoza fought for Europe: “The best memories I have are those years of European competition in the 60s with ‘Los Magníficos’ and then the matches at La Romareda in the Cup Winners’ Cup.”

Nayim, who was the star of the Cup Winners’ Cup final against Arsenal with that goal from the centre of the pitch, said in a telephone interview that “if the stadium had been moved, the aim would have been to create the atmosphere that was at La Romareda. In the end, the place doesn’t matter, but we would like it to stay there forever.”

“It is impossible to understand Zaragoza without Real Zaragoza. La Romareda is part of the city’s heritage and I cannot compare it to the Virgen del Pilar, but it is very close. When 30,000 people come with the hope of seeing their team, that does not happen in all cities,” says Nayim.

Alberto Zapater, one of the last historic captains and who wore the shirt for 12 seasons, wants the ground to remain where it is because it is where all the memories of Zaragoza fans are found: “For everyone, La Romareda is an icon of the city. For me it is everything and it is the place where I always dreamed of stepping foot.”

On the other side of the scale is Julia Úcar, 24 years old and a member of Real Zaragoza for seven years, so she has only seen second division matches at the ground, but for her the location is something more secondary to La Romareda: “I don’t know if the essence is lost because the original ground was in Torrero, but it is the people who make this stadium special, beyond the site,” she says while looking at the ground for the last time. She acknowledges that “the club is a symbol of identity for the city, but the stadium is in ruins.”

Reform with an eye on the 2030 World Cup

Zaragoza has passed the selection process of the Royal Spanish Football Federation and the Higher Sports Council to host the 2030 World Cup. An objective that has not yet been officially established and that has been brewing since the arrival of the new directors at the club, with Jorge Mas at the helm in 2023. [empresario y presidente del Inter de Miami, equipo en el que juega Messi]The stadium project has a capacity of 42,500 people.

The Mayor of Zaragoza, Natalia Chueca, admits that it was not an easy task to decide where La Romareda was going to be located and who was going to be in charge of drawing up the project. The stadium went from being municipal to being jointly owned (one third is owned by the Government of Aragon, one third by the City Council of Zaragoza and the remaining third by the owners of the club). A political mess meant that the procedures to become the venue by 2030 were almost not completed on time, but almost the entire city agreed that the location should be maintained. The project began on July 8, with the demolition of the Gol Sur area and will end in 2028. “Real Zaragoza has to have a first division stadium because it is the category to which it has to belong,” she concludes. According to the club, more than 21,000 people said goodbye to the stadium during the 20 days of open days.

This Sunday, Real Zaragoza players will face their fans again in a stadium where the South Goal area has already been demolished. To cover the works, the club has put up a banner on which one can read: “Zaragoza never gives up”. Although the Aragonese team has started the season on the right foot, with two wins and a draw, in the first league match at the stadium they will face Elche, who got their first three points after beating Córdoba in the last matchday.

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