Ponferrada – Campo de Santa Marta & Campo de Fuentesnuevas

Article Updated: 02/06/2026

Compared to neighbouring Galicia and Asturias, football arrived late to Castile-León, not fully establishing itself until the second decade of the twentieth century. The city of Ponferrada was one of the region’s pioneers, as friendly matches were a regular feature on Saints Days from the early part of the twentieth century. The city lacked a senior club to focus its efforts until the formation of Sociedad Deportiva Ponferradina in June 1922. The city’s famous Castillo de los Templarios, which features on the club’s emblem, provided the setting for its first training sessions and friendly matches. This arrangement could not continue after the local authority warned the club that playing football within a National Monument was unacceptable.

On 8 September 1923, the club moved to the eastern edge of Ponferrada and to its first purpose-built ground, the Campo de Santa Marta. The opening was marked with a friendly match against Cultural Leonesa, and the ground would remain their home for the next 54 years. Ponferradina joined the Asturian-Leonese Federation in 1933, competing in the second tier. During the Civil War, the club became the first club in Spain to join the newly formed Spanish Federation. Once hostilities ended, the club joined the Astur-Montañesa Federation, earning promotion to the Tercera in 1943. The town was experiencing an industrial boom thanks to the expansion of the coal and power industries. Ponferradina, however, had stagnated, spending practically all of the next 40 years in the Tercera. There were two brief visits to the Regional Preferente, but also won the Tercera title on two occasions, before losing to Barakaldo in the 1957-58 playoffs and Eldense in the 1965-66 playoffs. Between these few peaks and troughs, Ponferradina were consistent. Consistently average!

The Campo de Santa Marta was very basic and wasn’t fenced off until 1942, when a small stand was also added to the northern side of the enclosure. The stand was 40 metres in length, with a propped roof. The northern side also featured a separate building that housed the changing facilities and club room. Wooden bleachers were often placed on either side of the stand and at the eastern end of the ground, whilst the southern side and western featured narrow terraces. During the 1950s, a small tower and scoreboard were featured behind the western terrace, whilst a roof was added to the narrow southern terrace in the 1960s. As the club’s debts mounted, the ground was sold, and in 1975, they moved to the northwestern suburb of El Bierzo and the Campo de Fuentesnuevas. Ponferradina’s last match at the Campo de Marta took place on 16 March 1975, when they defeated Ciudad Rodrigo by three goals to one. The Campo de Marta was situated on the southern edge of the Parque El Plantio, between the present-day Calle General Vives & Calle Monasterio de Carracedo. The site is now occupied by high-rise housing.

Fuentenuevas was a few miles north west of the centre of town and the home of CD Fuentenuevas, a club that, over the years, had provided Ponferradina with many players. Ponferradina played its first match at Fuentesnuevas on 30 March 1975 against Gimnastic Arandina and won 3-0. The last full season at Santa Marta had resulted in relegation to the Regional Preferente, but, as is often the case, the new surroundings galvanised the team and in 1976-77 they won promotion back to the Tercera. Over the next decade, the club’s performances improved, with several top-five finishes. Unfortunately, the playoffs proved their undoing, and when promotion to the Segunda B was finally achieved in 1986-87 with a third Tercera title, it was the restructuring of the leagues that helped their ascent, rather than navigating the playoffs.

The stay in Segunda B lasted seven seasons, with a fourth-place finish in their debut season proving to be the highlight. However, the 1990s brought tough times for the town, as mass unemployment followed the closure of the local coal mines, which in turn affected the club. Following relegation back to the Tercera in 1994, the club very nearly folded. After a few seasons of consolidation, a return to Segunda B was achieved in 1999. The 1999-00 season marked the club’s last at Fuentesnuevas, as they moved to El Toralin, a new municipal stadium situated closer to the centre of town. On 13 May 2000, Ponferradina beat CF Fuenlabrada 2-0 in their final match at Campo de Fuentesnuevas. The stadium is still in use today and looks much as it did when Ponferradina played their final match. The main stand is 60 metres long with a propped roof, while basic roofs cover the shallow terraces on the remaining three sides of the 5,000-capacity ground. While Ponferradina’s move to El Toralin may have heralded a new era for the club and seasons in Spain’s professional leagues, those fans who witnessed matches at Fuentesnuevas know that this is where the club found its belief.