After 72 years in the centre of town at the Campo Inferniño, Racing Club de Ferrol moved a mile northwest to the edge of the Ria de Ferrol, where the municipality had built A Malata. This ever-expanding sports complex now features an indoor pool, a 5,000-seat indoor arena, separate athletics track, basketball, tennis & futsal courts, all-weather football pitches and a windsurfing lake. Oh yes… and a 12,043-capacity football stadium.
A Malata is a sports complex that the 75,000 inhabitants of Ferrol can feel justifiably proud of. It also has to be said that the stadium is a fresh, clever and distinctive piece of design. Designed by a collaboration of five architects (Juan Pérez López de Gamarra, Francisco Iglesias Miño, Juan Rey-Cabarcos, Vicente Fernandez Couto and Alfredo Alcalá Navarro), It incorporates the indoor pool into the overall body of the stadium. This creates an almost circular structure, whilst maintaining a square-sided football ground within. The seating consists of a single tier of grey seats, all under the cover of a cantilevered roof. The side stands run square to the pitch, whilst both ends arc behind the goals. There is a liberal splash of Racing’s green throughout the stadium, which now includes the pitch. This was not the case for the first decade of the stadium’s life, as the pitch had a habit of turning into a swamp from October onwards. The stadium shares a lot of its DNA with the Estadio Reino de León, and like its counterpart in Castile y León, A Malata’s tall floodlights stand away from the stadium’s perimeter and peer over the stands and onto the pitch. The main stadium, including the indoor arena & pool cost €10.2m, which was paid for by the Galician Government.
A Malata was first used by Racing on 18 April 1993 in a 3-2 win over Atlético Madrid B. It was the club’s first season back in Segunda B after two years in the Tercera, and whilst the club’s performances improved at A Malata, it would be a further eight years before Racing gained promotion to La Segunda. Those eight years saw Racing reach the playoffs and fall on three occasions until a successful fourth attempt saw them overcome Barakaldo CF, AD Ceuta & CF Gandia. Back in La Segunda for the first time in 21 years, Racing’s form was mediocre and after 3 seasons, they returned to Segunda B. They then spent the next five seasons switching between La Segunda and Segunda B, before two successively poor seasons saw them back in the Tercera for the 2010-11 season. Racing returned to Segunda B in 2013, and three successive top-four finishes saw them qualify for the playoffs for La Segunda, but miss out on promotion. The stadium hosted an Under-21 friendly when Spain entertained Belgium on 12 November 2014.
After three near-misses on promotion to La Segunda, hopes were high going into the 2017-18 season. Those hopes were misplaced as Racing endured a wretched season, finishing 18th and dropping to the Tercera. Whilst it didn’t seem likely at the time, the drop to the Tercera was the start of an upturn in the club’s fortunes, as a year later Racing won automatic promotion back to Segunda B. Following the restructuring of the Spanish league structure, Racing earned a place in the Primera Federación at the end of the foreshortened 2020-21 season. The first season in the Primera Federación saw the club finish third, but lose to Gimnástic Tarragona in the playoffs. Racing did not need the playoffs in 2022-23 as the title was secured and with it, direct promotion to the second tier, 15 years after last exiting.
Whilst Racing seems to regularly flit between the second & third tiers, A Malata is a stadium deserving of a higher stage. Its clean lines and functional simplicity mean it still looks fresh over 30 years after opening.
Estadios de España 