Getafe isn't considered the most sympathetic club in Spain but for anyone who likes to go a little bit off the beaten track: The Coliseum Alfonso Pérez can be intimidating at times. It's quite a cool stadium, and easy to combine with Rayo, Real, Atlético or neighbour Leganés.
The arc-shaped stands, the typical floodlights, and the tower blocks behind the goal: The Coliseum Alfonso Pérez of Getafe is a very recognizable and characteristic stadium. Rarely sold-out but the atmosphere can be a little intimidating, especially in combination with the fighting football the club has been playing for years now. The stadium is newer than you might think, opened just in 1998. Getafe was (and is) a local club from the suburbs of southern Madrid, who just started to make name for themselves this century. Fun fact: The stadium is named after the relatively young footballer Alfonso Pérez (born in 1972), but he never played a single match for Getafe. In fact, the former striker of Real Madrid, Real Betis and FC Barcelona didn't even play against them. However, the 38-time international is born in Getafe.
On the northern side of the stadium, there's a busy ring road, and on the southern side, there's a typical Spanish suburb with some bars. Most are quite standard, although you can eat great tapas and paella at El Rincón del Tio Eulogio. Our favourite bar in Getafe is Bar Museo de la Cerveza, a brewery slash beer café where football is almost always on screen. They have an enormous amount of beers and matching tapas. Another nice bar is Bar El Rincón De La Morenita (Avenida Don Juan de Borbón).
That last bar, El Rincón De La Morenita, is close to the athletics stadium where Getafe played from 1996 to 1998: Estadio Juan de la Cierva. It's very small, but Getafe created a couple of temporary stands, so they still could host 6.000 people around the tracks. The old Estadio de las Margaritas of Getafe was demolished and the current Coliseum was under construction, so the club needed a temporary home.
Getafe is a small, but really tight club. The players and fans live up to the old principle of 'one for all, all for one'. You can see it in the rough neighbourhood, but also in the location of the stadium and the training ground. All teams of Getafe play close to each other. Next to the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez are the youth and training grounds of the club: The Ciudad Deportiva Getafe.
A little west of the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez you'll find a small bar for Getafe fans: Federación de Peñas Getafe. During the week it's usually closed, on match days you can have a beer here.
On the south side of Madrid, there are lots of football grounds. The closest football club is CD Leganés, approximately six kilometres westbound. The Estadio Municipal de Butarque is not really impressive, but fun to see. Just like Getafe, Leganés is also a real local club from Madrid, but one with a much softer image than Getafe. Obviously, there's much more in Madrid. Rayo Vallecano (Campo de Vallecas) is wonderful, and the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu needs no introduction, just like Atlético Madrid. The least known is a small professional club a little south of Madrid: AD Alcorcón. The Estadio Municipal de Santo Domingo is surprisingly charming.
Getting tickets for Getafe is usually not a problem: on average, the seats of the stadium are roughly 70% filled. Go to the club's official website and buy them online. During the week you can buy them at the stadium as well.
The Coliseum Alfonso Pérez is right next to an exit of the M-45 and is thus easy to reach by car. Even though the stadium is a little outside Madrid you can get there easily by public transport as well, with the Cercanías, the regional trains in and around Madrid. Take from station Puerta del Sol (the midpoint of Madrid and actually the whole of Spain) the C4 in direction of Getafe, and get off the train at Las Margaritas-Universidad. From there, it's a 10-minute walk to the stadium.
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