With plans being developed for a new stadium for AFC Bournemouth, we're taking a salivating look at what the future might have in store for our club. We've scoured the world for what we feel are best stadia with a capacity broadly within the club's stated range - around 20,000, give or take a few. We're going to talk about what we like about them, what features we think can be incorporated into a new stadium for us - and where they could be improved. A new entry in the top 10 will be published every few days until we've completed our countdown - and then we'll collate it all into one post for posterity. The second largest stadium on our list is the refurbished El Sadar stadium, home of CA Osasuna which has a capacity of 24,481. That's a little north of the initial expected size of a new AFC Bournemouth stadium - but not unrealistically so. The original stadium was built in 1967, but with the club struggling to meet demand for tickets and the stadium being unable to provide for the needs of modern hospitality the decision was taken to remodel the ground - and the transformation completed in 2021 has been nothing short of remarkable both in terms of cost and impact. The stadium has been unrecognisably reborn at a cost of a relatively trivial €23m and was voted the Stadium of the Year for 2021. As a community owned club, the entire redevelopment process was undertaken with democratic consultation of the club's supporters. First the high level choice of strategy, and then specific lower level details were put to supporter votes. Taking inspiration from the Yellow Wall at Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park, and at the behest of the fans, the redevelopment saw the creation of the 'Red Wall' in the Graderío Sur stand which now features 1300 rail seats and is home to the club's most vociferous supporters. The atmosphere has been put at the heart of the redevelopment. The stands have a steep rake which keeps supporters right on top of the game - no fan in El Sadar is further than 35 meters from the pitch. It also gives a height to the stands which makes the stadium feel much bigger than its capacity. The seating bowl is comprised of two tiers - three sides of the ground having had a new tier added to them and a new roof. The lower bowl has a walkway around two thirds of the way up which gives the appearance of third and allows seating blocks to be staggered, breaking up the uniformity of the flow of seats. The seats themselves have been spaced further apart, allowing each supporter more room and more comfort. The remaining stand that towered over the others in the old layout, now meets the others as equals - but is aesthetically different and prevents the seating bowl from being dull and uniform as it would if were symmetrical. The exterior of the stadium is divided into two sections, the lower section hosts two walkways, framed by coated steel, and out of this like a gigantic flower grows the upper section, wrapped in a translucent red membrane. The expanded stadium now provides for 50% more hospitality places in new lounges and an executive suite. What has been done to this stadium for the capital outlaid is nothing short of astonishing. The stadium looks 10,000 seats bigger than it is, the steepness of the stands and the roof means it's loud and intimidating. We couldn't let a couple of thousand seats keep it out of our rundown. <iframe class="yt_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8uhP3Tpe3_Q" title="El Sadar Orbit" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe> ✅ Red wall safe standing ✅ Old and new married up perfectly ✅ Steep stands, close to the pitch ❎ 1300 safe standing places is a good start but there's room for more ❎ The exterior doesn't have massive wow factor from the roadside ❎ The coated steel exterior framework may not age well6. El Sadar Stadium, Pamplona
What we like:
What we'd change (we're struggling to be honest):