Espanyol Stadium: RCDE Stadium and what you need to know

After more than 100 years of existence, RCD Espanyol have only changed their home ground two times with three stadiums. The current one is the RCDE Stadium, which we will delve into in this post to learn more about the Espanyol home venue.

By: Harry Siuu

10/28/2021 21:29

What were the home grounds of Espanyol in the past?

Although Espanyol were founded long ago, in 1900, there were no records on their first stadium until 1923. They had a long time playing in Estadi de Sarria in one of the biggest districts in Barcelona, Sarria-Sant Gervasi, from 1923 to 1997.

Estadi de Sarria

Estadi de Sarria

After that, Espanyol moved to the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, the 5th-largest stadium in Spain with more than 60,000 capacity seats. It is now owned by the City Council of Barcelona after being used as the home ground of a local amateur club named FC Penger from late 2018 to the end of the 2019-20 season.

Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys

Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys

What is the current stadium of Espanyol?

The current home ground of RCD Espanyol is the RCDE Stadium, or also known as the Estadi Cornellà-El Prat. For more detailed information about this stadium, check the below section:

History

The RCD Espanyol made their last La Liga game in the 2008-09 season in the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, and then moved to the newly constructed RCDE Stadium but with a smaller capacity.

The construction was carried for three years and in use at the beginning of the 2009-10 season, in August 2009. It is located on the borders of Cornella and El Prat, hence its original name Estadi Cornellà-El Prat. The stadium was designed by three architects, Mark Fenwick, Javier Iribarren, and Esteban Gasulla.

The inaugural game in the RCDE Stadium was a match against Liverpool on 2 August 2009. It was a big home win 3-0 against such a strong club like Liverpool. Six days later, captain Daniel Jarque was found dead in the club’s hotel room with a heart attack. There were many opinions that Espanyol’s home ground name should be changed to honor captain Daniel Jarque, however, it didn’t come true.

On 18 June 2010, after almost one year since the completion of the stadium, it honorably received the “Venue of the Year” award.

The stadium was called Power8 Stadium from 2014 to 2016, during the sponsorship time of this company. However, the club ended their contract with Power8 after figuring out that this was a fraud. Espanyol’s home ground has officially got its current name RCDE Stadium since then.

Specifications

Pitch size: 105 m x 68 m (334 ft x223 ft)
Material surface: Grass
Capacity: 40,000 (all-seated) (the 10th-largest stadium in Spain and third-largest stadium in Catalunya)
Cost: €60 million

RCDE Stadium

RCDE Stadium

Record of La Liga attendances

Season	Total	Highest	Lowest
2009–10	529,341	39,260	22,275
2010–11	497,691	40,240	20,134
2011–12	448,863	35,122	16,627
2012–13	397,596	30,023	15,280
2013–14	373,223	32,131	12,650
2014–15	355,128	30,253	12,710
2015–16	348,353	27,395	12,461
2016–17	381,428	31,082	14,813
2017–18	335,309	24,836	11,659
2018–19	362,219	25,700	13,469
2019–20	296,935	32,084	17,390

RCD Espanyol have played in the RCDE Stadium since the 2009-10 season and they participated in 11 consecutive seasons of La Liga from 2009-10 to 2019-20. In the 2019-20 season, Espanyol finished at the bottom of the league table and were relegated to the second division in the 2020-21 season.

Within their 11 La Liga seasons, the RCDE Stadium witnessed hundreds of thousands of attendances each year. The highest attendance in a single La Liga game was in the 2010-11 season with 40,240 spectators.