Local government of Madrid removes stadium concession for Rayo Vallecano over severe safety deficiencies
The Vallecas Stadium has been in a state of rotting for years.
The local government of the Community of Madrid has removed the concession of the Vallecas stadium to Rayo Vallecano, the football club in the working class neighbourhood in the south of the Spanish capital, because they found significant safety deficiencies at the venue.
The Vallecas Stadium is owned by the Community of Madrid, which leases it to the football club, but after an audit commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Sport, they found that the stadium is in a "situation of widespread obsolescence" with errors in fire protection systems, electrical installations and emergency lighting, as well as hygiene and sanitation problems, with the canteen being unusable as it is used to store rubbish (with added risk of fire), citing even risks of Legionnaires disease.
The Spanish Minister also complains that the club has failed to comply with its obligations as a concessionaire, by not submitting the documentation required by the regional administration. This club, two months ago, was playing the UEFA Conference League final.
The photos of the stadium that accompany the report are chilling and disgusting, and the Rayo fans have been complaining for years of the outdated and awful facilities of the stadium, described by many as "a disaster waiting to happen", criticising the club president Raúl Martín Presa, who declines to invest in improvements the stadium.
Why? Many think that this is exactly what Presa wanted, an excuse to build a new, bigger stadium elsewhere, that would effectively remove Rayo Vallecano from the neighbourhood of Vallecas (at least geographically), where Presa is overwhelmingly hated.
From the time being, the stadium will begin urgent intervention work this Wednesday, estimated to last between two to six months, so for a good period, Rayo Vallecano will have to play their local LaLiga matches in a different venue.
