La Nucía – Estadi Olímpic Camilo Cano

Article updated: 17/04/2026

La Nucía is a small town of 18,000 inhabitants, around 10 kilometres north of Benidorm. Club de Fútbol La Nucia is a relative newcomer to the Spanish football scene, having been formed in 1995 and spending the first decade or so in the lower regional leagues of the Federació de Fútbol de la Comunitat de Valenciana.

Having reached the Regional Preferente (Level 5) in 2006-07, they surprised everybody by finishing fourth and qualifying for the playoffs to the Tercera. In the final round, they were pitted against Olímpic de Xàtiva and, having drawn the away leg 1-1, it was looking very promising with the scores at 0-0 in the 93rd minute of the second leg. Then Olímpic scored with a speculative strike for 30 yards to win promotion. Resigned to another season in the Preferente, CF La Nucia was reprieved when CF Dolores resigned from the Tercera and the Valencian Football Federation offered their place to the club. And they made good of their opportunity, racking up a series of top ten finishes and three appearances at the end-of-season playoffs, before dropping back to the Regional Preferente in 2016. Two years later, the club returned to the Tercera, finishing second at the end of the 2018-19 season. CF La Nucia saw off the challenges of UD Logroñés Promesas, Arandina CF & Linares Deportivo to earn a place in Segunda B for the first time.

The Estadio Camilo Cano is part of the town’s Ciutat Esportiva, which has become a regular mid-season location for Europe’s elite sports stars seeking warm-weather training. The Estadio Camilo Cano was already reasonably well developed before their promotion to the Tercera in 2007. The main stand is on the west side of the ground and runs for 60 metres from the southern corner. It has a canvas-covered canopy roof, propped behind the back of 10 rows of red & black seats. The rest of the ground is made up of narrow banks of red and black seats, with the eastern side having a thin cover, similar in design to the main stand. With an overall capacity of 4,000, it appeared perfectly adequate for the club when they reached Segunda B. However, work was already underway on a new venue within the complex.

In early 2019, work commenced on a new arena/sports field to the northeast of the complex. The project was a joint venture between the town council, the Diputación de Alicante and the local Soccer School. The site comprises a covered, raised stand on the western side and open seating on the opposite east side. A blue, state-of-the-art “Mondo” athletics track surrounds a natural turf pitch, and the venue has a capacity of 5,000. The main stand includes four large changing rooms, press rooms, a gymnasium, and VIP/hospitality facilities. At a cost of €7.5m, it is now considered the premier athletics venue in the province, and it has hosted the National Athletics Championship. La Nucia played its first match at its new home on 25 August 2019, earning a 1-0 victory over UE Cornellà. Levante UD also hosted six matches at the Olimpico Camilo Cano at the end of the 2019-20 season, when their own home, the Estadi Ciutat de Valencia, underwent major renovation.

CF La Nucia’s move to the Estadi Olímpic may have appeared a little baffling, as it offers less cover and worse sight lines. However, the stadium’s facilities proved a blessing when the club unexpectedly won promotion to the Primera Federación in 2022. After finishing the regular season with a second-place finish, CF La Nucia overcame challenges from CD Coría and Arenas Getxo to earn a place in the third tier of Spanish football. Due to some COVID-19 restrictions still in place, the large open facilities saw the Estadi Olímpic Camilo Cano chosen to host the one-off final that earned CF La Nucia promotion. The club fought to the very end of the 2022-23 season, which came down to a winner-stays-up tie away at Real Unión. The Basque side prevailed 2-0, sending CF La Nucia down to the Segunda Federación, and a further relegation 12 months later saw CF La Nucia drop to the fifth tier.