UEFA hand Murcia football stadium snagging list before Spain-Denmark game

The Enrique Roca Stadium has been given a long “to do list” after a visit from UEFA to check the viability of the stadium’s specification to host the Spain-Denmark match

Although built by Murcia businessman and one-time President of Real Murcia football team Jesús Samper, the Enrique Roca Stadium was given over to the City of Murcia as part of the vast Nueva Condominia commercial development plan.

Hence, the city council as owner of the stadium, will be responsible for correcting several urgent problems if it is to host the football match between Spain and Denmark on October 12, 2024.

The stadium was inaugurated 17 years ago when a notorious Spain-Argentina match was remembered for the poor state of the pitch and for the serious injury of Maxi Rodríguez, Argentinian and former Liverpool midfielder.

At that time called the Nueva Condomina Stadium, now Enrique Roca, everything was new and shining, except for the pitch which was not in good condition on the appointed date. Jesús Samper, who passed away in 2015 and was also the businessman behind the doomed Paramount theme park project, built the new home of Real Murcia thinking that his club was going to establish itself in the top flight La Liga division and that each year it would generate enough money to pay for the stadium’s maintenance, despite being municipal property. In addition, the City Council of Murcia, at that time, was always willing to help the century-old team.

But 17 years later, Real Murcia has barely spent a season in the elite division and the governing body of the city of Murcia have barely invested in a facility that presents too many deficiencies despite being so young, especially to host top-level matches.

This had already been pointed out by the technicians of the Spanish Football Federation who visited the venue a month and a half ago and issued a report highlighting the problems to be addressed with the stadium if it is to host Spain-Denmark in the Nations League on October 12.

Murcia has also expressed interest in hosting matches of the 2030 World Cup, which is to be held jointly between Spain, Portugal and Morocco. 

Deficiencies were also detected on July 3 by Peter Lundstrom and Thierry De Backer, the two UEFA inspectors, the highest control body in European football, who visited the venue together with 12 members of the Spanish Federation, representatives of the Murcia Federation, the City Council of Murcia and Real Murcia, who are waiting for the official UEFA report before starting work on a venue that meets all the general conditions, but that needs urgent repairs.

There are several defects that stand out above the others and that UEFA's inspectors have pointed out, although their report will be sent to the Spanish Federation within eight or 10 days. Problems include the stadium's giant electronic scoreboards, which have been problematic for years. In fact, one of them is no longer used in Murcia's league matches, while the second operates in a hit and miss fashion despite money spent by the Murcia club on maintenance in recent years. In addition, they are so obsolete that they are not capable of image emission and other current uses.

The lighting of the Enrique Roca is not up to specification either, in fact it barely meets the requirements of the Federation to host lower league matches. Many of the bulbs are broken and the overall operation does not even reach 600 lux light intensity, a figure that is less than half of the 1,400 lux required by UEFA.

The fact that the stadium's changing rooms do not have the necessary equipment, especially lockers for the players of both teams, is also not admissible for UEFA inspectors, just as the current benches of both teams do not have the necessary 26 seats, or that they lack electrical plugs to enable the connection of devices and other tools for coaching staff.

An anti-doping room will also have to be created as there is currently not one. On a positive note, the underground stadium parking is more than sufficient, as is the press room, which has the requisite size limit. The visit of the two envoys from UEFA and the members of the Spanish Federation should be the turning point for the Enrique Roca stadium to bring the facility up to a top quality standard.

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