Estadio Municipal da Malata

El Estadio Municipal de A Malata (officially in Galician Estadio Municipal da Malata) is a Spanish football stadium located in the Galician city of Ferrol, in the province of La Coruña. It is located in the sports city of A Malata, next to the promenade in the A Malata cove and the Punta Arnela fairgrounds.

Its owner is the Ferrol City Council and the Racing Club of Ferrol serves as the venue for the football matches that are played there.

In addition to being the fiefdom of the Racing Club de Ferrol, the stadium is used by other entities:
 * Ferrol Mountaineering Club (climbing wall)
 * Kayak Polo Copacabana (Artificial Lake)

History
It was built to replace the old Manuel Rivera Stadium, located in the O Inferniño neighborhood, which gave way to a large public square and a shopping center. It was built by the company Agromán and financed with 1,700 million pesetas (just over 10 200 000 €) by the Galician government. It was designed by a team of five architects: Juan Pérez López de Gamarra, Francisco Iglesias Miño, Juan Rey-Cabarcos, Vicente Fernández-Couto and Alfredo Alcalá Navarro. The first match was played on April 18, 1993 in a league match between Racing and Atlético de Madrid B (3-2). However, it was officially inaugurated on August 29, 1993 with a match between Celta de Vigo and Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña.

Since the premiere of A Malata, Racing de Ferrol has played in the Second Division in the following campaigns:

The Ferrol stadium is also the scene of the Concepción Arenal trophy matches (born in 1953), highlighting the 1994 editions (with Aston Villa and Atlético de Madrid as contenders, with a British victory ) and 1995 (with Zaragoza and Ajax, with the Dutch team's final victory). In that year, a friendly match was also played between Racing de Ferrol and Borussia Dortmund.

In the 2023-24 season, Racing Club de Ferrol has made A Malata the only undefeated stadium in the First and Second division, accumulating one calendar year, from December 17, 2022 to December 17, 2023, in which It has been called "The A Malata effect". In the major European leagues, only Liverpool can equal Racing's record without losing at home in all of 2023.

Facilities
The A Malata Stadium is located on a municipal area of 144,806 square meters located next to the Punta Arnela fairgrounds and the A Malata cove. The field has dimensions of 105 by 68 meters and is made of natural grass, Ray Grass English type, installed in July 2023. The original capacity of the stadium was 12,043 spectators, all of them indoors.



The total capacity of the stadium has been reduced in response to different requirements for adaptation of the facilities (Video assistant referee, new benches, new press and TV area...) placing it below 12,000 seats. Specifically, according to the latest data provided by the sports management (August 2023) it is 11,922 spectators.

The stadium is equipped with an irrigation system using pop-up sprinklers, two electronic scoreboards, changing rooms, cafeteria, offices, area for radio, press and TV,Video assistant referee, CCTV system, LED lighting, anti-doping room, fire system, lighting and emergency public address, access turnstiles, UCO (Organizational Control Unit)...

It also has a heated indoor pool and other sports facilities (Gym, Climbing wall, spa, pond for kayak-polo, Skate park...) It also has an annex field of 93 x 58.5 m of natural grass and since 2004, 2 Artificial grass 7-a-side soccer fields.

Facilities Management (demanial concession) The legal figure that will govern the use of the facilities of the Malata Municipal Stadium by Racing will be the public concession, and it will be free of charge. Among the administrative clauses contemplated in the document, it is stated that the club may use the central playing field, the seats, the ticket offices, the annex field and other facilities to hold meetings and training sessions. The duration of the new agreement is 3 years, extendable to a maximum of 15 years. The rest of the complex's facilities are excluded, such as the climbing wall, the municipal swimming pool and the ground floors near the kayak lagoon. Meanwhile, the City Council may organize sporting and cultural events in the stadium as long as they do not interfere with the official competition or activities scheduled by the club. The City Council will organize the Concepción Arenal trophy with the collaboration and organizational support of Racing. Regarding maintenance and works, the club will be responsible for all costs of conservation, repair, improvements, renovations, cleaning and security necessary for the proper use of the facilities. The largest works, such as those that affect the structure of the stadium, its stability or the roofs, will correspond to the City Council. The necessary technical adjustments required by the regulatory bodies of official competitions for the team's participation will be carried out by Racing, as well as the adoption of safety and emergency measures. Next Reforms The installation of new LED lighting is an inexcusable point for La Liga, (it must be carried out before August 15, 2024 or Racing will pay a fine of €9,000 per match without LED lighting) and will mean the removal of all the lights in the stadium. for the new LEDs. The total cost of the installation is 1,8000,000 euros, covered with €750,000 by the Ferrol city council, €750,000 by the A Coruña provincial council and €300,000 by the Racing Club Ferrol. The amount of the amount responds to the fact that, in addition to the lights, the electrical system will also have to be replaced, including, among other aspects, a generator and changes to the line that supplies the stadium. These new spotlights can be attached to the new stadium roof (included in the budget of the A Malata sports city, which is under development, and is expected to be installed in 2025), so the location on the towers will be temporary. The towers, after being examined by city council officials, confirmed that they are in perfect condition, and that they will support the LED lights without any problem, which are lighter than the original lights from 1993.

The replacement of all roof structures will also be addressed, which will allow the installation of video scoreboards, since the current structure would not support their weight, the replacement of all seats with folding type and green ones, improvements in the surroundings of the stadium, parking...

All these reforms will be carried out with the financing of the Provincial Council of La Coruña, the Ferrol City Council and the Government of Galicia, which will allow, together with the reforms already carried out, the A Malata Stadium to become one of the most modern stadiums in Galicia.

ESSMA Stadium Industry Awards
The ESSMA awards recognize excellent, innovative and creative initiatives within the management of sports stadiums. Among the various categories covered by the awards, the Racing Club of Ferrol nominates the works carried out in A Malata during the summer of 2023 for the “Security and Protection” category.



During the months of July and August 2023, the Racing Club de Ferrol, in coordination with the Junta de Galicia and the Ferrol City Council, and under the umbrella of LALIGA, carried carried out notable actions focused on solving the anomalies detected in the audits carried out by the national football entity in order to certify the suitability of the A Malata facilities for playing LALIGA Hypermotion

After years without receiving adequate maintenance, the stadium had suffered significant deterioration that forced major works to be undertaken to comply with current regulations regarding security, violence prevention and protection of attendees.

The speed, efficiency and management by the different administrations involved when carrying out the works made the president of LA LIGA himself, Javier Tebas, congratulate the Racing Club de Ferrol personally.

Carlos Mouriz, Racing sports director, read verbatim the words he addressed to him on August 24, 2023:

"Dear Carlos, I wanted to congratulate you and the members of the club for the diligence to enable your A Malata stadium in record time, adapting it to the regulatory requirements to play La Liga matches with a guarantee of safety for the participants and assistants. I ask you to forward this congratulations to the Ferrol City Council if you deem it appropriate for their involvement in the project that generates value not only to Racing de Ferrol but also to La Liga, a cordial greeting: Javier Tebas."

The objective was none other than to provide a positive experience for the users of the field beyond the merely sporting spectacle, emphasizing aspects such as accessibility, safety and permanence in the venue for people with reduced mobility.

Racing Club Ferrol, endorsed by LALIGA, presented the candidacy for awards for which on November 8, 2023, the nominees in each category were made public, among which is the A Malata Stadium.

A voting period was then opened among the members of the ESSMA and once this was concluded, on January 23, 2024, the name of the winners will be revealed within the framework of a grand gala to be held at the Johan Cruyff Arena. from Amsterdam.

At the gala, A Malata finally obtained the award as winner, for which she nominated in the Security and Protection category.

A malata twin
The A Malata Stadium was taken as a model (along with the San Lázaro Multipurpose Stadium but without athletics tracks) when building the Reino de León Municipal Stadium. Both the dimensions of the playing rectangle (105 x 68) and the stands of A Malata are identical to those of the Kingdom of León. The Ferrol venue has 11,922 seats, all of them covered (compared to the 13,451 in the Leon stadium)