Seville is not just literally one of the warmest cities in Spain, when there's a game of football, figuratively the temperature rises too. A sometimes underestimated football city, with one of Spain's most beautiful football derbies. Sevilla plays in the Nervión area of the city, in the wonderful Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán.
When you walk on Calle Luis de Morales, you should go to the top floor of the shopping mall Nervión Plaza. From the rooftop, you have a great view of the facade of one of the purest football stadiums of Spain, the Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán.
A traditional Spanish design, with two tiers and only the main stand covered by a roof. It has a capacity of just under 44,000. The fans take place on beautiful red seats with the club's name written all over the top tier. Those fans are what makes this stadium truly special. We didn't travel around Spain with a sound level meter, but it's very likely that the fans of Sevilla are the loudest. The passion of the Sevillistas will guarantee goosebumps.
The fun thing is that it isn't even the official anthem of the club, but the Himno del Centenario (composed for Sevilla's centenary in 2005) overtook this function in no-time. For every home game, the song is sung - a capella - by the whole stadium. Make sure you don't miss it.
The facade of the main stand of Sánchez-Pizjuán is a piece of art on its own. A giant crest of Sevilla, surrounded by 60 small pennants of iconic football clubs that played in this stadium. Over the last years, the outside of Sánchez-Pizjuán has been renovated, but the mosaic will never ever be removed: It has become a holy place of the Sevilla fans.
Two different football players, same club, same tragic fate, with 34 years in between. Both Pedro Berruezo and Antonio Puerta collapsed during a game as players of Sevilla and sadly passed away, respectively just 27 and 22 years old. They are immortalized on the outside of Sánchez-Pizjuán, at the entrances of the numbers they wore. Berruezo is portraited at gate 10, Puerta (which means gate in Spanish) guards gate 16.
A little further down the road on Calle Luis del Morales is Hotel Meliá Lebreros. For years it's been the hotel where Sevilla stays before home matches. On match days it's usually quite chaotic when the team bus leaves to the stadium. It's a journey of just 500 meters, but going on foot would take the players hours.
Make sure to come early when Sevilla is playing in Sánchez-Pizjuán, especially for the evening fixtures. There are only a few cities where you will find as many nice bodegas and tapas bars as in Seville, and the area surrounding the stadium is no exception. Hours before kick-off, the streets around Sánchez-Pizjuán are filled with fans who are going out for food or drinks. Walk around and you are guaranteed to find a fun bar. Don't worry if you can't find a seat, in the Sevillian culture it's very normal to eat your tapas standing.
Tickets can easily be bought on Sevilla's official website. On the English website, however, it is not possible to switch the language to Spanish in the upper right corner. If you click on 'Entradas' you'll be brought onto the ticket page.
Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán is close to the centre of the city and is easy to reach with Seville's metro system. Metro station Nervión is under the big junction close to the stadium, line 1 takes you there in a couple of minutes from Puerta de Jerez, in the city centre. From the train station Sevilla Santa Justa, it's approximately a 15-minute walk to Sánchez-Pizjuán. Y
You can also get there by bike: Everywhere in the city, you will find cheap public bikes parked, which you can take after you've downloaded the Sevici app.
Images: Coddou, Shutterstock, SANTOS
