Situated in the far eastern corner of La Rioja, Alfaro is a small town with a population of around 10,000. It is famed for its Roman history, surrounding vineyards and the annual nesting of over 100 pairs of storks. Not the typical ingredients associated with a footballing hotbed. This may explain why the town was somewhat slower than its immediate neighbours to fully embrace the joys of football. Whilst clubs sprang up in Calahorra, regional capital Logroño and in the nearby Navarran town of Tudela in the first decade of the 20th Century, it took the citizens of Alfaro until 1924 to form a club. The first team to emerge from the town was the original version of Club Deportivo Alfaro, who in July of 1924 approached the local council to source an area for use as a football pitch. Land to the north west of town, on the Paseo de La Florida, was identified and rented to the club by the private landowners.
The original CD Alfaro had dissolved by the early 1930s and a series of local clubs kept the footballing flame burning up until the Civil War. In the years after the war, numerous clubs attempted and failed to establish themselves as the town’s foremost representative. In 1947, the local council spent 47,000 pesetas purchasing and enclosing the land on the Paseo La Florida. Despite the lush climate, the money did not stretch to providing a grass pitch or any raised standing for spectators. Finally, in 1952, the current Club Deportivo Alfaro was founded and with funding from the council, competed in the second tier of the Federación Navarra. Success was instantaneous and with promotion to the Regional Primera, urgent work was carried out on the Campo La Florida to upgrade to changing facilities and pitch surround. After a number of near misses, CD Alfaro became champions of the Regional Primera in the 1958/59 season, earning promotion to the third tier of Spanish football.
Although never seriously challenging for promotion, CD Alfaro acquitted themselves reasonably well, finishing as high as 7th in three successive seasons from 1960-63. They hung around in the Tercera for eight seasons, before returning to the regional leagues in 1967. By the time CD Alfaro returned to the Tercera in 1975, the Campo La Florida had closed, and the town’s main football ground could be found a kilometre or so to the south to the town, next to La Molineta reservoir. The club played its first match at the Estadio La Molineta on 14 August 1975, having won promotion back to the Tercera at the end of the 74-75 season. Regrettably, this was a brief visit and they dropped back into the regional leagues a year later, where they would stay until 1981. Over the next 20 seasons, CD Alfaro made little impact on the Tercera, but this changed in 2001, when a third place finish earned them a spot in the promotion play-offs. On 17 June 2001, a 5-1 victory over Aurrera Ondarroa earned the club promotion to Segunda B.
The 2001-02 seasons proved difficult and although not disgraced, the club finished bottom of the league, 9 points from safety. A season later and CD Alfaro had won promotion to Segunda B again, and this time they stuck around for a little longer, finishing as high as ninth in 2003-04. The club rallied following relegation in 2007 and won its first Tercera league title at the end of the 07-08 season. The club’s promotion hopes appeared dashed, when they lost 3-5 on aggregate to CD Tudelano. However, CD Logroñés latest demotion saw CD Alfaro reprieved and offered a place in Segunda B. For the duration of the 2008-09 season CD Alfaro was the region of La Rioja’s top dog. Not that it counted for much as the club was relegated back to the Tercera after finishing nineteenth.
The only stand at the Estadio La Molineta is a strange contradiction. At first glance, it’s design of a single raised tier above changing facilities, coupled from with a pitched cantilevered roof, gives the impression that it was built a decade or so prior to its actual construction. However, the sound quality of the build (not something that can be said of all Spanish stadiums built in the 1970s) and its subsequent refurbishments, give it a fresh feel that belies its age. Straddling the halfway line for 60 metres, it has 1000 white seats that were added to the original concrete bleachers in 2008. The stadium’s floodlights were added in 2001 following the club’s first promotion to Segunda B. A gravel track surrounds the pitch and the remainder of the 4,000 total capacity is made up of hard standing. La Molineta has a rural air to it, which only adds to its character.
CD Alfaro has not been able to repeat its success of the 2000s, when they played 6 seasons in the third tier. The 2010s saw the club marooned in the Tercera, with just two unsuccessful visits to the end of season play-offs. Its status suffered a further blow in 2021, when the RFEF’s reorganisation of the Spanish football pyramid demoted the club to the fifth tier, or the confusingly named Tercera RFEF. However, the disappointment was short-lived, for in 2022 the club achieved its first promotion in 14 seasons, finishing runners-up in Group 16 of the Tercera RFEF and beating CD Lealtad on penalties in the play-off final.
As for the Estadio La Molineta, its days appear to be numbered. In December 2022, the club and the local council announced plans for a new stadium, close to the site of the original Campo La Florida. This is to facilitate the expansion of La Molineta reservoir, which will occupy the land on which the current stadium stands. Plans show that the new stadium will feature a single decked, full length stand that seats 5,000 and hard standing with a capacity of 1,250 around the remaining three sides. With a budget of €5.65m, the club plans to be in-situ for the start of the 2025-25 season.
CD Alfaro Official X/Twitter: https://x.com/cdalfaro?lang=en
La Futbolteca Club History: http://lafutbolteca.com/club-deportivo-alfaro/
Estadios de España 