Article updated: 28/10/2025
Imagine my delight back in the summer of 2015, when a club from one of Europe’s great cities, that wears its blue & white quartered shirts with pride, won promotion via the play-offs. No, not Bristol Rovers (Although I was pretty ecstatic when they went up!). I am referring to Club Deportivo Ebro, a small team from Zaragoza that takes its name from the river that snakes its way through the city.
Founded in 1942, CD Ebro have played at a variety of grounds around the city, such as San Gregorio (Cascajo), Picarral & Miralbueno. In 1980, the club relocated to the Campos de Escolapios. However, problems with spectators viewing matches for free led to CD Ebro relocating in 1990 to the central barrio of Almozara. Here, with the help of the municipality, they enclosed a basic open dirt football pitch that had opened in 1980, and established the Campo de Fútbol La Almozara – El Carmen. The move coincided with their promotion to the Tercera, and all but six of the next 25 seasons were spent at this level. The majority of those years were spent at the bottom half of Group XVII of the Tercera, but form improved and CD Ebro made the play-offs in 2012-13. The club won its first Tercera title in May 2015 and successfully overcame the challenge of Club Deportivo Varea in the play-offs to win promotion to Segunda B for the first time.
CD Ebro’s El Carmen home is fairly typical municipal fare, but that’s not to say that it doesn’t have some nice touches. Until a revamp in 2010 that saw an artificial pitch installed, El Carmen had a sand & lime dirt surface (one of the last in the Tercera). The renovations also saw the old changing rooms & clubhouse, which had stood in the northwest corner, demolished and replaced with a new changing block and offices that run the length of the northern end. A small artificial training pitch stands behind this building. The ground’s only cover can be found on the west side. This consists of two narrow cantilevered covers that stand high over three rows of bucket seats. With an overall capacity of 1,000, this compact enclosure meets CD Ebro’s needs, as attendances rarely rise above 500.
CD Ebro’s first three seasons in Segunda B went better than many had anticipated. Their debut season in the third tier saw an admirable 10th-place finish and a run to the third round of the Copa del Rey. 2016-17 saw a comfortable 12th-place finish, whilst a year later, CD Ebro finished 6th, just 4 points from a playoff position. This earned a place in the following season’s Copa del Rey. After winning away at Marbella, CD Ebro beat Real Murcia and Lleida Esportiu at El Carmen. Through to the last 32 of the competition, CD Ebro drew Valencia, but with El Carmen unable to host the televised tie and the club wanting to maximise income, the home tie was moved to the Estadio La Romareda. CD Ebro lost the match at La Romareda 1-2 and the tie 1-3 on aggregate.
CD Ebro grew dissatisfied with the facilities at El Carmen and, in the summer of 2019, made the move north of the Rio Ebro to the Estadio Pedro Sancho, which lies within the Federación Aragonesa de Fútbol complex on the northern edge of the city. The complex is owned by the RFEF and was opened in 1982, although the main stadium was not completed until a few years later. The only cover is provided by a cantilevered stand on the western side of the enclosure. It has a seated capacity of 1,000, with 1,500 spaces available on hard-standing areas around the pitch. The stay at the Estadio San Pedro until the end of the 2020-21 season, when CD Ebro finished fourth in a truncated season that led to the reorganisation of the Spanish football structure, which saw the club drop to Segunda RFEF.
Back at El Carmen, CD Ebro finished ninth in the 2021-22 season, but was relegated in 2023 to the Tercera Federación, ending an 8-year odyssey of playing at a national level. The Tercera title was won in May 2025, and with it, the team was promoted back to the Segunda Federación.
Estadios de España 