Estadio La Cartuja de Sevilla

Estadio La Cartuja – Seville's arena on the island

Estadio La Cartuja does not sit in the middle of Seville. It stands on an island in the Guadalquivir, the Isla de la Cartuja, north-west of the old town. It opened on 5 May 1999 with a Spain v Croatia international, designed by the architects Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz and known then as the Estadio Olímpico de Sevilla – built for the 1999 World Athletics Championships and for two Olympic bids the city never won. Since the 2025 rebuild it holds around 70,000, which makes it the largest ground in Andalusia.

The rebuild that turned a running track into a football ground

Anyone who remembers La Cartuja from its athletics years will barely recognise it. Between 2024 and 2025 the track was torn out, the pitch was lowered and an entirely new lower tier, the Grada Baja, was laid over the old oval. Capacity went from 57,600 to roughly 70,000, and the distant bowl became a ground where the front rows sit close to the grass. It reopened on 26 April 2025 with the Copa del Rey final between Barcelona and Real Madrid. A second phase with a glass roof is planned for around 2028, in time for the 2030 World Cup.

A green-and-white home away from home

Since the 2025/26 season La Cartuja has been the home of Real Betis while the Benito Villamarín is rebuilt, and the Béticos have made the place their own remarkably quickly. When the club anthem plays before kick-off and the whole ground answers with “¡Viva er Betis manque pierda!” – “Long live Betis, even when they lose” – you understand why this club is counted among the most passionate in Spain. Green and white flags on all four sides, and the soft light of an Andalusian evening over an open bowl: this is a matchday you take part in rather than watch.

The big nights this ground has already seen

La Cartuja is Spanish football's great neutral ground. It has staged the Copa del Rey final since 2020 and will keep doing so for the coming seasons. The Spain national team plays here regularly, Seville hosted group and knockout matches at the 2021 European Championship, and in 2004 Spain won the Davis Cup final here in front of a record crowd. Watch a match at La Cartuja and you are sitting in a stadium built for the big occasions.

Getting there means crossing the bridge

Because the ground sits on an island, the journey is part of the day. From the centre it is a good 45 minutes on foot across the Puente de la Barqueta and past the Alamillo park – a walk many supporters make on purpose. Quicker options are the Cercanías C-2 line to Estadio Olímpico, the C1 and C2 bus routes, or the metro to Blas Infante and the shuttle from there. Do not attempt it by hire car: on matchdays the island is largely closed to private traffic.