Being escorted up an unmarked track to a clearing in the woods doesn’t normally end well. You’ve seen it happen in all of those gangster/devil-worship/badger-baiting movies.. No? Maybe just me, then! Thankfully, there is nothing gruesome in this particular corner of La Rioja, but actually something quite wonderful. You see, the people of Nájera have conjured up a woodland wonderland in the shape of the Campo Municipal de la Salera. Here, they have blasted, leveled and honed the land to create a unique home for Náxara Club Deportivo. A home where bare rock, conifers and some more standard stadium accouterments have been combined to make a perfect natural amphitheatre.
Náxara Club Deportivo was originally formed in 1933 from the remnants of Sporting Club Najerino, who themselves had been formed three years earlier by ex-students of the Colegio de Santa María la Real. Home was an unfenced patch of land to the southwest of the city, known locally as La Salera, which had been used by Sporting and other Najerinos clubs since the 1920s. The Civil War put an end to Náxara CD’s activities, and it wasn’t until 1947 that the club was resurrected. Even then, competition was confined to the provincial regional leagues, and despite some success, the club led a transient existence, flitting between league competition and friendlies during the 1950s. The deplorable state of La Salera led to the municipality opening a new ground in 1956. Called the Campo de San Fernando, it was a basic enclosure with a dirt pitch situated to the east of the city, just to the north of the junction of the present-day Calle San Fernando and the Avenida Logroño.
Now playing at the Campo de San Ferando, Náxara CD’s fragmented existence continued, and it wasn’t until the municipality committed to the complete refurbishment of the old La Salera site that the club returned to regular competitive action. The rejuvenated Campo La Salera was inaugurated on the 28 April 1966, with Logroñés CD and Athletic Club playing a friendly, which the Riojans won 2-1. The new layout of the enclosure saw the playing surface rotated 90 degrees and changing facilities located in the south western corner. For the next four decades, Náxara CD played in the lower reaches of the regional leagues. That changed in 2005, with promotion to Group XVI of the Tercera. Apart from a very respectable 13th placed finish in their debut season, Náxara CD has never failed to record a top ten finish. The Tercera title was won in 2010-11, and in total, the club has reached the end of season playoffs for the third tier on seven occasions and have three Tercera titles to their name.
La Salera is situated to the southwest of Najera, across the Rio Najerilla, and up the aforementioned unmarked road. It has a capacity of 1500, with seating for 350 in the enclosure’s only covered stand in the southeast corner. The rest of the capacity is made up of hard standing around the pitch and on the southern side and western end, higher sections of standing perched atop outcrops of rock. High above the western end’s upper area is an unofficial section, where supporters have cobbled together a few planks of wood to form a makeshift platform and barrier in the tree line. Quite simply, La Salera is brilliant, beautiful and totally unexpected.
Náxara CD reached the final stages of the playoffs for a place in Segunda B in 2017 but lost out to seasoned promotion-getters Peña Sport. They returned a year later but once again lost out, losing 2-6 to UP Langreo. In 2019, their woes continued with a first-round defeat to Navarran neighbours UD Multivera. The 2020s have seen an upturn in Náxara CD’s promotion prospects. After the RFEF reorganised the Spanish Football Pyramid, the club won promotion to Segunda División RFEF in June 2021 after finishing second in the play-off group. Since then, two relegations and two promotions have left Náxara CD playing in the Segunda Federación, or 4th Tier.
Estadios de España 