Halfway between Sevilla and Córdoba lies the small city of Écija. It’s renowned for its distinctive architecture, its eleven church towers and its heat. So hot is the summer temperature in Écija, that it is known as “La sartenilla de Andalucia” (The frying pan of Andalucia). The local team Écija Balompié, has never reached such fiery temperatures, in fact they have only really cooked on gas in the mid 1990s when they reached the second division for two seasons.
Écija Balompié was founded relatively recently in 1968, after the original Écija Balompié folded in 1957 and its successor, Club Recreativo Ecijano bit the dust in 1965. Both clubs played at the Campo de San Cristóbal, which opened in 1923 and was a basic, enclosed area of land in the north of the city, next to the present-day Parque de Caballeria. At least Club Recreativo had the chance to play at the Estadio San Pablo, which was opened in 1962. The enclosure was relatively basic (and remained so for for its first 30 years), with a dirt pitch and hard standing around most of its perimeter, save for a narrow strip of terracing on its eastern side.
Écija Balompié spent the first twenty years or so kicking around the regional leagues before winning promotion to the Tercera in 1987. It took a further five seasons to reach Segunda B, but promotion to the third tier led to development at San Pablo. A covered cantilevered stand that was 60 metres in length, was erected on the western side and a few steps of terracing were added to the northern end. Écija made steady progress, finishing third in the 94-95 season. In a tough & tight play-off group featuring Numancia, Pontevedra & Levante, all four clubs could still win promotion going into the final set of fixtures. Écija’s 1-1 draw at San Pablo with Levante was enough to secure top spot.
Promotion brought about more change at San Pablo, with the uncovered seating added to each side of the main stand and the terracing at northern end. Seating was also extended on the eastern side of the enclosure using bleachers. Finally, a narrow temporary stand was added behind the southern goal. Unsurprisingly, life in La Segunda was difficult for such a small club, but decent home form and four crucial away wins, including a 1-2 victory at eventual champions Herculés, saw Écija finish in thirteenth position, three points clear of relegation. The 96-97 season was tougher still and without the resources to compete, Écija finished bottom of the league, fourteen points from safety.
Écija then settled for a steady run in Segunda B, clocking up 17 consecutive seasons at this level. They rarely troubled either end of the table in many of those years, but an exception was in 2007-08 when they were crowned champions of Group IV, amassing an impressive 21 victories and 9 draws on their way to the title. In the play-offs, Écija disposed of Deportivo B on the way to the final, but lost 3-1 on aggregate to SD Huesca in the final. One small consultation was that in the return leg at San Pablo, a crowd of 6,000 saw Écija play out a 1-1 draw with the Aragonese team. During this period, San Pablo saw its record attendance, when in October 2006, Real Madrid visited in the Round of 32 of the Copa del Rey. 10,000 watched a 1-1 draw, thanks in part to 4,000 temporary seats that were wedged into the enclosure. The club finally fell back to the Tercera for the first time in over two decades in 2014, when a disastrous campaign, saw the club win just six matches and finish bottom of the league, some 20 points from safety.
In 2016, Écija Balompié was bought by a Korean consortium and initially the signs seemed favourable, with the club winning promotion back to Segunda B. However a year later, the club found itself back in the Tercera. There followed a period where the future of the club was in serious doubt. Debts of €400,000 and absent owners saw Écija administratively relegated and drop to the eighth tier of the Spanish pyramid. By 2023, Écija Balompié had dropped a further level to Grupo 1 Tercera Andaluza Sevilla. As for San Pablo, it’s a pale shadow of the pristine stadium that once hosted second tier football. It seems that football in Écija is going to require more than the Andalusian sun to get some heat back into its game.
Estadios de España 