The grounds
Atletico Madrid Stadium Guide: Metropolitano Capacity and History
Ask three generations of supporters where Atletico Madrid play and you get three answers. The oldest remember the first Metropolitano in the north-west of the city. Most grew up at the Vicente Calderon, on the banks of the Manzanares. Since September 2017 the answer has been the Metropolitano again, reborn in the east of Madrid and currently named the Riyadh Air Metropolitano. This guide covers the ground as it is today, how to handle a matchday there, and the two homes that came before it.
The Atletico Madrid Stadium Today: Riyadh Air Metropolitano
The current Atletico Madrid stadium opened on 16 September 2017 with a 1–0 win over Malaga, Antoine Griezmann scoring the first goal at the new ground. It stands in the San Blas-Canillejas district in eastern Madrid, built out of the shell of La Peineta, an athletics stadium from 1994 that sat mostly unused for two decades before the club took it over and wrapped a full bowl and roof around it.
The naming rights have changed twice. The ground opened as the Wanda Metropolitano, was the Cívitas Metropolitano from 2022 to 2024, and has carried the Riyadh Air Metropolitano name since 9 October 2024. Supporters mostly shorten all three to “the Metropolitano”, which was the point of the name: it revives the title of the club’s original home, so the sponsor changes while the identity stays put.
The stadium made its mark quickly. On 1 June 2019 it hosted the Champions League final, Liverpool beating Tottenham 2–0, less than two years after opening. It has since become one of the venues Spanish football turns to for big occasions, and the trophy nights it has already seen are logged in the trophy record.
Capacity and the Shape of the Bowl
The Atletico Madrid stadium capacity is 70,692, which makes it one of the largest club grounds in Spain, behind only Camp Nou and the Santiago Bernabeu. The bowl is a single continuous ring on three tiers, with no corners left open, and the roof covers every seat, a genuine consideration in a city where August games are played in heat and January games in wind.
The south end, the Fondo Sur, is the heart of the support, home to the loudest sections and the big tifos on derby days and European nights. Away fans are housed high in the opposite corner. Sightlines are steep and close for a modern build, and there is no athletics track left; the running lanes of La Peineta disappeared in the rebuild.
For context on how the ground compares with the club’s earlier homes:
| Ground | Years | Capacity | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metropolitano (original) | 1923–1966 | grew across four decades | north-west Madrid, near Cuatro Caminos |
| Vicente Calderon | 1966–2017 | 54,907 | riverside ground, hosted 1982 World Cup matches |
| Riyadh Air Metropolitano | 2017– | 70,692 | hosted the 2019 Champions League final |
Three homes: switch between them
Riyadh Air Metropolitano, 2017 to today
Opened on 16 September 2017 with a 1–0 win over Málaga, the club's eastern-Madrid home seats 70,460 and replaced the Vicente Calderón after fifty-one years on the Manzanares.
It took less than two years to host the biggest match in club football: the 2019 Champions League final, Liverpool beating Tottenham 2–0. The bowl is steep, fully roofed and loud in the corners where the organised support gathers.
- Capacity
- 70,460
- Opened
- September 2017
- Metro
- Line 7, Estadio Metropolitano
- Major final hosted
- UCL final 2019
Vicente Calderón, 1966 to 2017
The ground that carried the club's soul for half a century sat wedged against the Manzanares river, with the M-30 motorway running underneath the main stand, an engineering answer to a site that had no room for a stadium.
It was tight, steep and famously loud. The last competitive match was played in May 2017; demolition followed, and the site has since been redeveloped.
- Years
- 1966–2017
- Named after
- Club president Vicente Calderón
- Distinctive feature
- Motorway under the main stand
- District
- Arganzuela, south Madrid
Estadio Metropolitano, 1923 to 1966
The club's first great home opened in 1923 in the north of the city, near what is now the Ciudad Universitaria. It was where Atlético became a genuine Madrid institution, and where the Civil War left its mark, the ground badly damaged by 1939.
The name returned in 2017, deliberately: the modern stadium's title reaches back past the Calderón years to the club's first home.
- Years
- 1923–1966
- Location
- North Madrid, near Ciudad Universitaria
- Fate
- Damaged in the Civil War, later replaced
- Legacy
- Name revived for the 2017 stadium
A century of Atlético grounds: the current Metropolitano, the Calderón it replaced, and the original Metropolitano whose name it took back.
Matchday Guide: Getting There and Getting In
The metro is the answer. Line 7 stops at Estadio Metropolitano station, which sits directly beside the ground; from the city centre, allow 25 to 35 minutes including the change at Gran Via or Avenida de America depending on your starting point. The station gets very congested after the final whistle, so many regulars walk one stop up the line to board an emptier train, or simply wait twenty minutes.
Arrive early. Gates open well before kick-off, and the walk from the metro to the far side of the stadium takes longer than the map suggests because of crowd flow around the perimeter. Bags are checked at the outer ring, and large luggage will not get in. If you land at Barajas airport on matchday, the stadium is closer to the airport than to the city centre, which makes a pre-flight game more practical here than at most European grounds.
Tickets for general sale go through the club’s official channels, and availability varies enormously by opponent: a midweek group game is easy, a Madrid derby is not. Prices for tickets and stadium tours change from season to season, so check the club’s site rather than trusting any figure printed elsewhere. The museum and guided tour operate on non-match days and cover the trophy room, whose contents are catalogued on the honours page.
Team sheet
Griezmann scored the first competitive goal at the new ground in 2017; the same stadium staged a Champions League final barely 21 months later.
Matchday, step by step
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Line 7 stops at Estadio Metropolitano, a short walk from the ground. Trains fill from an hour before kick-off; arriving ninety minutes early is the difference between a stroll and a crush. Cercanías plus a bus is the alternative from the south of the city.
L7 Estadio MetropolitanoLas MusasCanillejas
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The plaza outside fills with supporters well before kick-off, and the walk up from the metro is part of the occasion. Bag rules are checked at the gates, so travel light.
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The organised support gathers behind the goal in the lower tier; the corners carry the songs best. Neutral visitors usually get the calmer side stands, which still see everything.
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Concourse kiosks serve the standard stadium fare; the bars along the approach roads are busier and better value. Nothing here changes fast enough to quote prices for, so check on the day.
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The metro queues for twenty to thirty minutes after a full house. Walking one stop down the line clears it faster, and the bars near the ground stay open long after.
Tap a step. Practical detail only, and anything that changes season to season is described rather than quoted.
The Vicente Calderon, 1966 to 2017
For half a century the club’s home was the Vicente Calderon, opened on 2 October 1966 as the Estadio del Manzanares and renamed in 1971 after the president who willed it into existence. It held 54,907, sat hard against the river in the Arganzuela district, and had one feature no other major ground could claim: the M-30 motorway ran directly underneath the main stand, with traffic passing beneath supporters’ feet during games.
The Calderon staged group matches at the 1982 World Cup and every home fixture of the club’s best and worst decades: the 1970s title sides, the 1974 Intercontinental Cup second leg, relegation in 2000, and the whole first act of the Simeone era. The final Atletico league match there was played in May 2017, and the ground was demolished over the following years, with the riverside site redeveloped as parkland and housing. The players who defined those decades are profiled among the club legends.
The First Metropolitano and Earlier Homes
The original Estadio Metropolitano opened in 1923 near Cuatro Caminos in the north-west of the city and served, with interruptions around the Civil War, until the move to the river in 1966. The championship sides of 1940, 1941, 1950 and 1951 and the Cup Winners’ Cup team of 1962 all called it home. Before 1923 the young club played on a series of modest fields, a story told properly in the club history section, and match reports from across all three homes survive in the news archive.
So when the club moved east in 2017 and named the new ground Metropolitano, it was not inventing a brand. It was closing a sixty-year circle.
Stadium FAQ
What is Atletico Madrid's stadium called now?
The Riyadh Air Metropolitano, the name carried since 9 October 2024. The ground opened in 2017 as the Wanda Metropolitano and was the Cívitas Metropolitano from 2022 to 2024. Fans simply call it the Metropolitano.
What is the Atletico Madrid stadium capacity?
The Atletico Madrid stadium capacity is 70,692, which makes the Metropolitano the third-largest club ground in Spain, behind Camp Nou and the Santiago Bernabeu.
How do you get to the Metropolitano by public transport?
Metro line 7 to Estadio Metropolitano station, which is right next to the ground. From central Madrid the journey takes roughly half an hour with one change. The station is crowded after full time, so build in waiting time or walk to the next stop on the line.
Can you tour the Atletico Madrid stadium?
Yes. The club runs a museum and guided tour on non-match days, including the dressing room and pitchside areas. Times and prices change by season, so book through the club's official website.
Did the Metropolitano host a Champions League final?
Yes. The 2019 final was played there on 1 June 2019, with Liverpool beating Tottenham Hotspur 2–0.
What happened to the Vicente Calderon?
Atletico played their last league game at the Vicente Calderon in May 2017, then moved to the Metropolitano. The old ground was demolished and the riverside site redeveloped, so nothing of the stadium itself remains.
Why is the stadium called Metropolitano?
It inherits the name of the club's original home, the Estadio Metropolitano, where Atletico played from 1923 to 1966 before the move to the Calderon.