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Estadio Anoeta replaced Real Sociedad’s former home, Estadio de Atotxa, in the early 1990s after it the club outgrew the small 17,000 capacity and it wasn’t possible to expand on the current site due to both size limitations and the antiquity of the stadium (Originally constructed over 80 years ago). As a council led imitative, it was important that the new stadium would become a multi purpose sports venue, capable of hosting a variety of events including Athletics (Junior Championships), Rugby (Heineken Cup) and even music concerts. With an approximate budget of 21 million euros, ground was broke in 1990 and it wouldn’t be until August 13, 1993 that the stadium would host its first football match, a friendly between Real Sociedad and Real Madrid which would end in a 0-0 draw. Initially designed to host 27,000 spectators, a small expansion was undertaken in 1998 to bring the capacity up to the current 32,000 plus which remains the capacity today. If Real Sociedad had their way, the club would love to remove the running track between the stands and the pitch to create a more intimate atmosphere but the plan dubbed Gipuzkoarena never came to fruition due to the council rejecting proposals. As of 2007, it seems every presidential candidate proposes that the club either buy the stadium from the council outright to have complete control of the facilities but cooperation has been non-existent so far. This means the club have had to shelf plans to bring the capacity up to 42,000 and the creation of better commercial facilities such as Hotel and shopping centre.

DRIVING Regardless of whether you are travelling from the East or West, you will likely be taking the GI-20 and then seeking exit 7 towards San Sebastián and then signs toAnoeta. The address for satnav is as follows: Anoeta Pasealekua 1, 20014 San Sebastián (Donostia). Car Parks There’s very little if any on-site parking for fans on matchdays which means you will have to chance your luck with street parking five minutes north of the ground. This Parkopedia page gives an overview of expected price and number of spaces for each local car park. TRAIN The Euskotren Trena is the name of the company that run the commuter and intercity trainlines throughout the Basque region. In total there are 8 lines and 69 stations with Anoeta station on the Metro Donostialdea being the closest station to the stadium. BUS The official website lists several bus routes which serve the stadium with the most popular being: 17, 21 (Old district), 26 (Martutene) and 28 (Miramón), all requiring you to get off at the Anoeta stop which is easy to remember as it’s the same name of the stadium. AIRPORTS Although there is such thing as San Sebastián Airport, it unfortunately only serves domestic routes to either Madrid and Barcelona which sucks because the next closest International airport, Bilbao, is over 117km away. There is a dedicated bus operated by PESA which serves the Donostia-San Sebastián route but it only departs every hour and takes 75 minutes to get there. Did anyone say, rental car? Note: Bordeaux in France is even further way at approximately 220km, so isn’t very feasible either.