Football has been played at Urritxe since 1915, ten years before Sociedad Deportiva Amorebieta was formed. Situated to the northeast of the town, it remained a basic facility for much of the 20th century, with a dirt pitch and little in the way of cover.
In 2000, SD Amorebieta moved out from Urritxe to allow the complete redevelopment of the site. They didn’t have to move far, just 150 metres to the east where the municipality had built Campo de Fútbol de Txolon, a small enclosure with an artificial pitch. Meanwhile, Urritxe was getting its first significant stand, a raised structure with a barrell-vaulted cantilevered roof that stood over 504 seats. The rest of the ground was made up of hard standing, taking the capacity of the ground to 3,000. Urritxe was officially inaugurated on 12 October 2002 when Racing Santander & Athletic Club played a friendly. Underneath the main stand is a collection of changing facilities, a gymnasium, medical room, press room and a few shops and a bar. Not bad for a combined cost of €1,320,000.
SD Amorebieta was founded on 4 January 1924. Originally, the club embraced various activities besides football, including athletics, cycling and pelota. SD Amorebieta joined Serie C Ordinaria del fútbol vizcaíno (Durango) for the 1925-26 season and regional football remained its staple diet for the next 35 years. During the late 1940s, Spanish International goalkeeper and local boy Carmelo Cedrún started his career with the club. Cedrún returned to play for SD Amorebieta in November 1954, albeit in a friendly against his current teammates, when the club celebrated the renovation of Urritxe. SD Amorebieta first reached the Tercera in 1962, staying for six seasons and clocking up two third-place finishes in the process. They returned to the Tercera in 1982 and embarked on a stay that would last for 30 seasons. During this period, SD Amorebieta qualified for the end-of-season playoffs on 8 occasions, with failures in the seven attempts up until 2011. The 2010-11 season was different as the club secured their first Tercera title, then beat CD Manacor 4-0 over two legs to earn a place in Segunda B for the first time.
The upward momentum continued as SD Amorebieta made a flying start to the 2011-12 season. Excellent form at Urritxe and a tight defence saw the club finish fourth and enter the playoffs. Unfortunately, their playoff hoodoo returned as they lost 1-3 on aggregate to Real Balompédica Linense. Over the next decade, SD Amorebieta continued to post a series of top ten finishes, rarely finishing below halfway. Then, in a truncated 2020-21 season, the club finished third in its sub-group and qualified for the playoffs for a place in La Segunda. COVID protocols meant that the usual two-legged format was scrapped in favour of single knock-out ties. Their first match was played at the Estadio Nuevo Viveiro in Badajoz, and SD Amorebieta beat Linares Deportivo 2-1 to advance to the final. The final saw SD Amorebieta paired with CD Badajoz. The Extremaduran team had the advantage of playing in their home stadium, but SD Amorebieta prevailed, winning 1-0 with a goal from Bilbao in the 22nd minute.
After the euphoria over promotion had died down, thoughts turned to a first-ever season on Spain’s second tier. In particular, the club’s Urritxe home was wholly inadequate to host La Segunda matches. Faced with a very tight timescale and the unpalatable expense of upgrading their basic stadium, SD Amorebieta turned to their Basque neighbours, Athletic Club. A season-long stay was agreed upon, some 16km northwest of Urritxe, at Athletic’s Lezama training facility. It was a pragmatic approach that ensured the club’s step into the professional leagues did not break the bank. Whilst SD Amorebieta’s first season in the second tier would end in relegation, they were far from disgraced, running both Málaga and Sporting Gijón mighty close before succumbing to the drop in the penultimate match of the season.
Back in the third tier and back at Urritxe, SD Amorebieta pipped CD Eldense to the title and made an immediate return to La Segunda. Promotion necessitated another deal with Athletic Club to play at their Lezama training facility. Once again, SD Amorebieta was involved in a relegation battle, taking it to the final match of the season, with a “Winner Takes All” battle at CD Mirandés. The side from Castile y León prevailed, with a 1-0 win at the Estadio Anduva. Whether SD Amorebieta become the ultimate “Elevator team”, frequently switching divisions & stadiums, remains to be seen, but when they are playing at Urritxe, they are a real force to be reckoned with.
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