Article updated: 05/11/2025
The background of Real Club Deportivo La Coruña’s reserve team can be traced to the foundation of Fabril Foot-ball Club in February 1914. They soon became an affiliated club of Depor, and played their home matches at the old Estadio de Riazor from 1917. Fabril changed its name to Sporting Fabril in 1926 & again in 1943, to Fabril Sociedad Deportiva. In 1963, after a merger with Club Deportivo Juvenil, it officially became the reserve team of Depor, adopting the title of Fabril Deportivo. This changed to Deportivo B in 1993, before becoming Real Club Deportivo Fabril in 2017.
Once the senior team moved to the current Estadio Riazor in 1944, Fabril switched to the Campo de Granja, a new ground on the southern edge of the city. The Campo de Granja closed in 1975, and the site is now within the city’s university sports complex. Fabril moved again in 1948 to the Anexo Estadio de Riazor. It was located behind the northern goal of the Estadio de Riazor, with a row of arches providing a modicum of cover along the eastern touchline. It had a grass pitch, but as it was also used for training, the pitch often resembled the nearby Playa de Riazor. The Anexo remained the home of the reserves until the building of the Palacio de los Deportes in 1968. Matches were then played at the Riazor until 2003.
The different incarnations of Depor’s reserve side have spent the majority of their time in the Galician section of the Tercera. Since the 1990s, Fabril has made regular visits to Segunda B, clocking up 12 seasons in the third tier, including a best finish of runners-up in 2017-18. This coincided with the first team’s relegation to La Segunda, which would have ended any hopes of promotion before the playoffs had even started, but Fabril took part and fell at the first hurdle, losing to Extremadura UD. With finances stretched, many of the reserve side moved up to the first team for the 2018-19 campaign, which left Fabril with a team of inexperienced youngsters. Unsurprisingly, Fabril was relegated from Segunda B at the end of the season and spent the next five years in the Tercera. The Tercera title was won in May 2023, earning the club promotion to the Segunda Federación.
Cidade Deportiva de Abegondo is the training academy of Real Club Deportivo La Coruña. It’s situated 25 kilometres to the southeast of La Coruña, in the small municipality of Abegondo. The facility consists of 7 full-size natural pitches and one all-weather surface, all identical in size to the pitch at the Riazor. Contained within the main hub, a large, elliptical-shaped building at the southern end of the complex, are offices, changing rooms, a gymnasium, a press room, treatment/medical rooms, and a cafeteria. On the northern side of the hub is a substantial 1,000-seat stand that runs the length of the main pitch, and this is home to Deportivo Fabril. Apart from a few games at the Riazor, usually playoffs or matches against Galician rivals, this has been the team’s home since the complex opened on 1 May 2003. There is a 300-seat stand situated on the southern side of the hub, directly behind the goal of the all-weather pitch. In 2024, more parking spaces were added, and a new artificial pitch was laid 15 metres to the south. This was part of a €40 million refurbishment of the main building, which saw new gyms for the First Team and Academy, and natural turf pitches switched to hybrid turf. The refurbishment also saw upgrades to the changing rooms for the women’s team and youth academy, dining room, staff offices, leisure areas, spa facility, press room and cafeteria. This extensive project will continue with the construction of five more training pitches and a covered stand between pitches 2 and 3.
When the Cidade Deportiva de Abegondo opened in 2003, it was a trailblazer which many Spanish teams were to follow. The out-of-town training and conditioning centre with its own stadium for the reserve team is now the norm for professional clubs in Spain. Sadly, Depor has yet to get the best out of the Cidade Deportivo, having endured a turbulent couple of decades since its opening.
Estadios de España 