Wanda Metropolitano: Atletico Madrid

Jose Carlos Ortiz Aparicio / Flickr.com

The Wanda Metropolitano has enjoyed numerous different incarnations over the years, having first opened at the start of the 1990s. Back then it was built to be a stadium for 1997’s World Athletics Championships and was known as the Estadio de la Comunidad de Madrid. In the end Madrid wasn’t chosen as the tournament’s host, with Athens taking that honour. Nowadays, of course, it is being used as the new stadium of Atletico Madrid, with the Spanish club having taken it over and redesigned it to welcome more than 65,000 supporters through the door.

The sad fact for Atletico is that, in terms of Spanish football, they will virtually always live in the shadow of their more illustrious neighbours Real Madrid. That is true both in terms of how successful the two teams and when it comes to the size of their stadium, with the Santiago Bernabéu able to host over 80,000 fans. Nevertheless, The Wanda Metropolitano is an impressive ground and will likely be the home of Atletico Madrid for several decades to come. Having been renovated completely prior to the start of the 2017-2018 season, it’s also one of the most modern in Spain.

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Wanda Metropolitano Photos

• Stadium Roof Stadium Roof
• Under The Stairs Under The Stairs
• Supporters in the Ground Supporters in the Ground
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Wanda Metropolitano Seating Plan & Where to Sit

As is common with modern European stadia, Wanda Metropolitano is designed in a bowl style when it comes to seating. The Fondo Norte and Fondo Sur sit behind the two goals at either end of the ground, whilst the Lateral Este and Lateral Oeste run alongside the pitch. There are three tiers all the way around the stadium, including a layer of boxes and executive suites.

Atlético Madrid Ticket Prices

As is the case with most grounds in Spain, the difference in prices of tickets varies not just according to where in the ground you want to sit but also from week to week depending on who the team is playing. There’s also limited information available on whether youngster or concessions can get cheaper tickets at the Wanda Metropolitano. It is worth noting that you can get cheaper tickets if you are a member of the club’s official supporters group.

Here are some ticket prices from Atlético’s match against Girona during the 2017-2018 season, with the cheapest and most expensive prices listed for different parts of the ground The prices are based on the idea that you are not a member of the club’s official supporters group:

• Fondos: €40 - €50
• Lateral Este: €30 - €80
• Lateral Oeste: €30 - €100

Other things to note include the fact that senior citizens get a 25% discount on ticket prices and that the most expensive ticket in the Lateral Oeste stand is for what the club call the 'bench experience'.

How To Get Atlético Madrid Tickets

Getting tickets for Atlético’s matches isn’t easy. The ground is smaller that the likes of the Nou Camp and the Santiago Bernabéu, which doesn’t help, but Atlético are also one of the most popular teams in La Liga. You can but try, of course, and the best places to start are the club's official website and via entradas.com, both of which offer online sales. You can also call the ticket office by phone or visit the ticket offices in person. They’re open on match days from three hours before the game until the match kicks off.

Where to Buy

Getting To Wanda Metropolitano

Train - The new stadium can be found in the North-East part of the city, close to the airport. The vastly developing area has excellent transport links, therefore, including the Estadio Metropolitano, one of the largest Metro stations in Madrid. Getting there from London in the first place will take around a day on the train, going via Paris and Zaragoza.

Bus - Numerous local buses stop in the area close to the stadium, including the 140, the E2, the 28, the 38 and the 48.

Car - The ground is close to both the M-201 and the E-5. They’re the main roads you’ll be wanting to head to if you’re driving before following signs when you get closer.

By Air - As mentioned before, the Wanda Metropolitano is located in the part of the city of Madrid closest to the Madrid-Barajas Adolfo Suárez Airport. However, the Madrid-Cuatro Vientos Airport is actually the one that’s nearest the centre of Madrid if you’re hoping to be closer to town.

Taxi - A taxi from the Palacio Real de Madrid to the stadium will cost you about €25 and should take around twenty minutes to complete its journey.

Parking Near Wanda Metropolitano

There are 4,000 parking spaces at the stadium, with 1,000 of those being on the inside and 3,000 outside the ground. If you’re looking to drive, therefore, there should be enough room for you to park.

• See Available Parking Near Wanda Metropolitano

Useful Resources

Wanda Metropolitano Hotels

Madrid is no stranger to tourists, so the options for accommodation are endless.

Hotel Sercotel Alcalá 611 - £70+

Calle Alcala, 611, Madrid, 28022

This four-star hotel is about a mile from the stadium and has just under one hundred rooms. As with most hotels in the hottest parts of Spain, there’s a pleasant outdoor pool for you to use. On top of that there’s a fitness centre if you’re looking to stay in shape, plus a terraced area if you want to sit outside. There’s self-parking and free Wi-Fi, as well as a bar for when you want to chill out and have a drink. More details.

NH Madrid Barajas Airport - £80+

Calle de Catamaran, 1, Madrid, 28042

As its name suggests, the NH Madrid is close to the airport, so you can expect to see planes flying over head every now and then. Don’t let that put you off, however, as there’s a free shuttle to the airport for convenience. When it comes to amenities you'll be pleased to know that there’s a restaurant and bar as well as full-service spa. This includes an outdoor pool, which is great when the weather’s good. Free Wi-Fi, self-parking and breakfast are also available. More details.

Hotel ILUNION Alcalá Norte - £90+

Calle de San Romualdo, 30, Madrid, 28037

With over two hundred bedrooms and a conference centre, the Hotel ILUNION is the biggest hotel on our list. It’s just over a mile from the ground and, if you’re interested, more than five miles from the Santiago Bernabéu. There’s a restaurant and bar, self-parking, free Wi-Fi and a terrace. You can get breakfast in the morning and if you want to drive to the stadium but don’t have a car then you’ll be able to rent one on-site. More details.

Pubs & Bars Near Wanda Metropolitano

As well as the traditional Spanish bars, Madrid has a surprising number of English and Irish style pubs too.

Hospitality

Atletico offered excellent VIP facilities at the Vicente Caderón, so it’s not a surprise to see the same thing at the Wanda Metropolitano. From private boxes through to executive seating, there are plenty of options if you want to watch an Atletico Madrid match in style.

Private Hire

The beauty for big clubs in well populated cities is that they can regularly offer their facilities to businesses and organisations who might want to use them for private purposes. Madrid is one of the most cosmopolitan and populous cities in Europe, so it’s a no-brainer for Atletico to take advantage of that fact when it comes to their new stadium.

Stadium Tours & Museum

A tour of the Wanda Metropolitano will take in the likes of the players’s tunnel, the pitch side, the press office and the dressing rooms. You’ll also have a chance to have a look around the various stands, including the VIP areas and museum.

It will cost you €22 if you’re an adult and €16 if you’re a junior to do the tour with museum entry included, with Club Members getting a 50% discount and children under 3 being able to enter the ground for free.

About Atlético Madrid

Club Atlético de Madrid was founded on the 26th of April 1903 as Athletic Club de Madrid. Unlike some clubs that can boast founders that are millionaires or professionals, Atlético was founded by three Basque students living in the city and hoping to start a club as a youth branch of the team from their childhoods, Athletic Bilbao. They were joined by dissidents from Real Madrid in 1904 and the team went from strength to strength.

Atlético’s existence has been marred by the presence of their more successful neighbours in the city of Madrid. They are no slouches, mind, with the club having won the fourth most top-tier titles in Spain. Unfortunately for Los Rojiblancos, however, they share a city with a team that have long been bigger and better than them. They’ve still won both La Liga and the Copa Del Rey ten times each, the European Cup Winners’ Cup once and been runners-up in the European Cup three times, so that’s nothing to turn your nose up at!

Wanda Metropolitano History

The initial design of the stadium back in the 1990s was put forward by Cruz y Ortiz, with construction getting underway in 1993. It only had about 20,000 seats and the design led to it receiving the nickname 'La Peineta', which means 'The Comb'. When the 1997 World Athletic Championships were awarded to Athens rather than Madrid the ground was used for local sporting events instead until it was abandoned in 2004. At that point Madrid made an application to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, which was eventually awarded to Rio de Janeiro, and the hope was that the Estadio de la Comunidad de Madrid would become the Estadio Olímpico de Madrid.

Numerous proposals were made for the use of the stadium after the Madrid Olympic bid failed, but none were successful. That is until Atletico Madrid announced in 2013 that they would take over the site and build their new ground in the location. In 2016 the Spanish side announced that the stadium would be known as the Wanda Metropolitano due to sponsorship by the Wanda Group, a Chinese conglomerate. When used for UEFA or FIFA events the ground will be called the Estadio Metropolitano.

Future Developments

Given that the stadium only opened in September of 2017, it’s fair to say that there aren’t likely to be any developments in the near future. If anything changes on that front then we’ll update this section accordingly.