MUÑOZ PÉREZ REOPENS ITS DOORS: SOCCER RETURNS TO ESTEPONA

There are stadiums that simply open their doors.

And there are others that, when they do so again, seem to reclaim something they’ve been waiting for for months.

That’s what’s happening tomorrow at the Francisco Muñoz Pérez.

At 9:00 p.m.

Opening day.

First chance.

The first night of a season that feels completely different from the last one.

Because the last official game played here ended with the team securing its place in the league.

With hugs.

With tears.

With a pitch invasion.

With a city celebrating that its team had managed to survive when practically no one expected it to.

A little over three months have passed.

And now it’s time to return.

To compete again.

To suffer again.

To win again.

To believe again.

Because tomorrow, a new story begins.

And this time, for the first time in a long time, CD Estepona isn’t looking down.

It’s looking ahead.

The Muñoz Pérez Stadium Feels Like a Soccer Field Again

Perhaps that’s the best news of all.

Soccer is back.

The two-week cycle is back.

The red jerseys are back.

The pre-game conversations.

The nerves.

The lineups.

The kids entering the stadium.

The fan clubs.

The hugs.

The debates.

The goals.

And that moment—so simple, yet so special—when the lights come on and it all starts again.

The Muñoz Pérez has been through a lot over the past few months.

It endured the anguish of a season that seemed lost.

It witnessed the arrival of Julen Guerrero.

It witnessed the transformation of a team that seemed doomed.

It witnessed the arrival of Manolo Sánchez.

It witnessed an extraordinary second half of the season.

It went through a relegation battle.

And it experienced one of those nights that linger in the memory for a long time.

Now it’s time to turn the page.

And this new chapter begins at home.

The team returning is no longer the same

Because even though the jersey is still red…

even though the crest is still the same…

even though the stadium is exactly the same…

the CD Estepona that takes the field tomorrow is no longer the same team that finished the first half of last season.

Something is different.

You can tell.

In the roster.

In the coaching staff.

In the organization.

In the fans.

And above all, in the atmosphere surrounding the club.

Last season ended with a survival that felt like a miracle.

This one begins with a sense of hope that has already taken shape as a project.

Manolo Sánchez is staying on.

The coaching staff is staying on.

A significant part of the squad remains.

The club has committed to retaining key players and adding those it deemed necessary.

And that, too, is a statement of intent.

Because it’s not just about changing players.

It’s about maintaining a vision.

A direction.

A way of understanding where the club wants to go.

And this summer, we’ve seen something that had never happened before under this management on such a scale:

contract extensions for practically the entire squad.

Around 16 players have stayed on.

So has Manolo Sánchez.

So has his coaching staff.

So has the management structure.

And so has Julen Guerrero, one of the figures who has most changed the perception of the project since his arrival.

It’s not a revolution.

It’s something else.

It’s continuity.

It’s stability.

It’s building on what worked.

And in soccer, that matters, too.

A lot.

1,500 people have already said yes

And if anyone wants to know how the fans are responding to this new project, just look at one number.

1,500.

CD Estepona has reached its all-time record for season ticket holders this season.

It’s never had so many.

And that figure probably explains better than any speech what’s happening around the club.

Because a season ticket isn’t just a card.

It’s a decision.

It means you’re going to be there.

That you want to be a part of it.

That you’re going to come back.

That you’ll stand by the team when it wins.

And also when it loses.

A few months ago, we had to convince people that there was still something worth fighting for.

Today, we have to make room for everyone who wants to be part of what’s to come.

And that completely changes the picture.

The fans no longer look at Muñoz Pérez with fear.

They look at him with hope.

And tomorrow they’ll do it again.

And then the past rears its head

Because soccer, too, has a memory.

And as fate would have it, the first matchday has a name attached to it.

Xavi Molist.

The coach who will be on the visitors’ bench tomorrow.

The same man who, just a few months ago, was on the home bench.

Nine games.

One win.

Eight losses.

Zero draws.

The numbers speak for themselves.

There’s no need to add much.

There’s no need to sugarcoat it.

There’s no need to look for someone to blame.

The numbers are there.

And after those nine games, Manolo Sánchez arrived.

And with him came something that seemed impossible.

The team rallied.

It competed.

It won.

It closed the gap.

And it ultimately avoided relegation.

Soccer, sometimes, writes its own answers.

And this is one of them.

Because there was a time when people said it didn’t matter who was on the bench.

Time ended up proving that it did matter.

It wasn’t the same.

It wasn’t the same.

And tomorrow, those two paths will cross again.

But this time, from opposite sides.

Molist will be on the visitors’ bench.

Manolo will be on the home bench.

And Muñoz Pérez will be in the middle.

There’s no need to say much more.

Let the soccer do the talking.

A Controversy That Shouldn’t Be One

And then there’s the issue of tickets.

Because there’s also been a lot of commotion surrounding this match.

Xerez wanted more tickets.

Estepona decided otherwise.

In the end, the visiting team has 200 tickets for its fans.

And Jerez has deemed that insufficient.

It’s understandable that Xerez wants to bring as many fans as possible.

It’s also understandable that their fans want to be there.

But there’s a reality that shouldn’t get lost amid all this discussion:

CD Estepona is playing at home.

And the home club is the one responsible for organizing its stadium.

They know its capacity.

They know its layout.

They know its needs.

They know the security circumstances.

And they are, ultimately, the ones who decide how they want to manage their seating.

There’s not much more to it.

The Muñoz Pérez Stadium’s capacity is what it is.

There are approximately 1,500 season ticket holders who already have their seats.

Tickets have been sold over the past few weeks.

There is a visitors’ section.

And there’s a city that also wants to enjoy its team’s first game.

That’s why it’s hard to understand why allocating 200 visitor seats is being portrayed as some kind of slight.

That’s 200 people.

In a stadium with limited capacity.

And in a league where we’re not talking about stadiums that hold 30,000, 50,000, or 80,000 spectators.

In fact, it might be helpful to put that number into perspective.

200 tickets.

In a stadium with about 3,000 seats.

More than 6% of the capacity.

A figure that, on its own, can hardly be called ridiculous.

And you only need to look at elite soccer to find a point of reference: Champions League regulations set a minimum of 5% of the stadium’s UEFA capacity for visiting fans. In a 3,000-seat stadium, that percentage would be 150 tickets.

Estepona has allocated 200.

More.

This doesn’t mean that UEFA regulations will apply tomorrow at the Muñoz Pérez. They won’t.

But it does help put the number into context.

Because we’re talking about a stadium with limited capacity, with around 1,500 season ticket holders, and tickets that have been selling over the past few weeks.

Did Xerez want more?

Fine.

They can want them.

Did their fans want to come?

Yes.

But wanting more tickets doesn’t mean you’re entitled to them.

Because the Muñoz Pérez belongs to Estepona.

And tomorrow, Estepona is playing at home.

Period.

Soccer returns just when we wanted it back the most

And maybe all of this is secondary.

Because tomorrow, when the referee blows the whistle to start the game, the tickets won’t matter anymore.

Neither will the arguments.

Nor the statements.

The controversies.

Everything.

It’ll be eleven against eleven.

One stadium.

One jersey.

One crest.

And an entire season ahead.

And that’s precisely what’s so beautiful.

That after everything we’ve been through, CD Estepona is starting over.

But this time, it’s not from a place of anguish.

It’s from a place of hope.

From a roster that has retained a significant portion of its core.

From a coach who has already proven what he can do.

With a coaching staff that knows the way.

With a project led by Julen Guerrero that has restored professionalism, structure, and ambition to the club.

And with fans who have decided to rally behind the team like never before.

1,500 season-ticket holders.

An all-time record.

And tomorrow, they’ll all gather in the same place once again.

The first step is at home once again

Some seasons begin with doubts.

Others begin with fear.

And then there are those that start with excitement.

This one starts with excitement.

Excitement to see the team.

Excitement to return to the stadium.

Excitement to discover just how far this project can go.

Excitement to see what Manolo has built.

Eager to see what a revamped roster—but one with a recognizable core—can bring to the table.

Eager to hear Muñoz Pérez’s voice again.

And eager, above all, for the soccer to begin.

Because we’ve been waiting for far too many months.

Far too many days without competition.

Too many conversations about what happened.

Now it’s time to talk about what’s coming.

And what’s coming starts tomorrow.

At 9:00 p.m.

At home.

Against Xerez.

With Molist on the visitors’ bench.

With Manolo on the home bench.

With 1,500 season-ticket holders cheering us on.

With a city ready to don red once again.

And with Muñoz Pérez Stadium reopening its doors.

Because El Vigía’s last game ended with the team securing its place in the league.

The first game of this new chapter begins with something different.

With excitement.

And maybe that’s what matters most.

Because after everything we’ve been through…

we can’t wait for soccer to return.

Tomorrow we have to go to Muñoz Pérez.

Tomorrow it starts all over again.

And this time, we want to see just how far they can go.