Club Deportivo Mirandés captured the imagination of the Spanish public with a magnificent run in the 2011-12 Copa del Rey. After defeating three teams from La Primera on route to the semi-finals, CD Mirandés became only the second club from Segunda B to reach the last four. Cup exploits aside, little is known about the club, so if you are sitting comfortably, I’ll tell you their story!
Miranda de Ebro was a late-comer to the sport of football, only setting up its first official club, Deportivo Mirandés, in 1917. Over the next few years, the club played friendlies against other clubs from the province of Burgos and the nearby Basque Country, often under the name of Sporting Club de Mirandés. It folded in 1922 and the city had to wait until 1927 for the current club, Club Deportivo Mirandés to be formed. After a season playing at the Campo de Krone, Mirandés moved to a field owned by the RENFE next to the main railway station in Miranda de Ebro. Unsurprisingly, the ground became known as the Campo de La Estación. The first match at La Estación was played on 26 May 1928.
Due to the city’s position in the far northeast of the province, the club joined the Cantabrian Federation in May 1934 and competed in the Regional Preferencia until the outbreak of the Civil War. Whilst friendly matches were played, the club did not reform until 1942. It took a further two years before the club rejoined a league, this time joining the Guipuzcoana Federation. The club stayed at La Estación until 1949, when the railway company served notice and built accommodation for its staff on the site, whereupon the Municipality stepped in and developed a field to the south-east of the town next to the Rio Ebro. The Campo Municipal de Anduva was officially opened on 22 January 1950 with a match against CD Logroñés, although the club played its first match at Anduva on 22 December 1948.
Foto: cdmirandes.com
CD Mirandés has spent the majority of its history in the Tercera, 50 seasons in total. There was a period in the late 1970’s when the club had a few productive seasons in Segunda B, finishing third in 1978-79 and just missing out on promotion. Their visits to Segunda B since then have been fleeting, but they did qualify for the end of season play-offs in 2010-11 with a second-place finish. After an away win in Guadalajara, CD Mirandés was odds-on to gain a place in La Segunda for the first time, especially after taking an early lead in the second leg. However, two late goals from CD Guadalajara sealed the tie in their favour and condemned the club to another season in Segunda B.
Until recently, Anduva was a very basic enclosure. However, it has seen some impressive additions over the past few seasons. The main west stand, which has its bench seating truncated as it approaches the southern end, gained a new roof for the start of the 2005-06 season. This shallow cantilevered cover replaced an old propped roof that looked like it was about to crumble. Maybe this was because the original roof from the 1950s was finally condemned in 1997. Rather than replace the whole roof, corrugated sheeting was slung over the back of the stand and the old props at the front. A new changing block incorporating a club room and offices was also added to the south-west corner in 2005.
Anduva’s most substantial build was a covered terrace on the east side of the ground, which held over half of the ground’s capacity under a high propped roof. The terrace and cover were built in 1975. In the summer of 2015, the east side was redeveloped and an all-seater full-length stand was erected in time for the start of the 2015-16 Season. The southern end also features an all-seater stand which was built in the late summer of 2010. It was officially inaugurated on 24 November 2010 with a friendly against Real Sociedad, which Mirandés won by three goals to two. The northern end features some temporary seating, which is a slightly smaller version than the seating that was erected for their cup semi-final in 2012.
The cup run in 2011-12 saw three La Liga teams come to Anduva and suffer defeat. Following their incredible quarter-final second leg victory against Espanyol, the club decided to erect a temporary grada at the northern end of the ground. 1,800 red seats were installed in time for their semi-final first leg against Athletic Club de Bilbao. A crowd of 7,700 gathered to watch Athletic win 1-2, bringing in record gate receipts of €300,000. The temporary stand was dismantlement, apart from a small section in the north-east corner.
Firmly in the public eye following their cup run, Mirandés capped a memorable season by winning promotion to La Segunda, after topping Group II of Segunda B and seeing-off Atlético Baleares in the Play-off final. There followed a very respectable 15th place finish in 2012-13, but the participation in the following season’s campaign was thrown into doubt by the LFP’s financial requirements. Fortunately, sufficient capital was raised, and further good fortune followed at the end of 2013-14 when the club avoided relegation back to Segunda B thanks to Real Murcia’s demotion. Apart from a two-year hiatus from 2017-19, when Mirandés dropped back into Segunda B, second tier football has been a staple diet at Anduva.
Estadios de España 