Estadio José Rico Pérez
| Estadio José Rico Pérez | |
|---|---|
|
|
| View of the Hércules Alicante stadium | |
| Data | |
| place |
 Alicante , Spain
|
| Coordinates | 38 ° 21 '26.1 " N , 0 ° 29' 33.4" W |
| owner | Hércules Alicante |
| start of building | May 26, 1973 |
| opening | 4th August 1974 |
| First game | Hércules Alicante 0-4 FC Barcelona |
| surface | Natural grass |
| architect | Francisco Muñoz Llorens |
| capacity | 29,584 seats |
| playing area | 105 × 68 m |
| Societies) | |
| Events | |
|
|
The Estadio José Rico Pérez is a football stadium in the Spanish city of Alicante on the Mediterranean Sea . It is the home stadium of the Segunda División club Hércules Alicante . The arena holds a total of 29,584 spectators and is mainly used for the club's soccer games.
history
The cornerstone ceremony took place on May 26, 1973. The stadium was inaugurated on August 4, 1974 with the game between Hércules CF and FC Barcelona (0-4). The stadium hosted the 1982 World Cup . 1994 had Hércules Alicante the stadium to repay debt for the equivalent of 5.5 million € sell to the city. In 2001, the new owner finally allowed the second club of Alicante City to use the stadium , a decision that was not very popular with the Hércules fans and led to great tension between the two clubs and their fans.
The decision to remove all symbols and coats of arms in the stadium that reminded of the original owner during games of FC Alicante caused a lot of excitement, including the "Hércules CF" lettering on the seats in the main stand. The deadline for submitting a purchase offer to the city ended on March 27, 2007. Hércules Alicante made the only offer: € 7.8 million for the purchase and a further € 4.4 million for renovation work, which fulfilled the requirements of the previous owner and the stadium returned to Hércules Alicante on April 11, 2007 . Part of the agreement, however, was the continued use of the stadium by Alicante FC until the renovation of the city-owned Campo de Villafranqueza stadium, where the smaller Alicante club has played its home games since 2010.
Web links
- herculescf.es: Stadium on the official website of Hércules Alicante (Spanish)
- usuarios.lycos.es: Stadium history & photos (Spanish)