Estadio Alfonso Murube

It is not a grand arena. Estadio Alfonso Murube sits in Ceuta.

The ground has been here a long time. It opened in 1933 as Campo Municipal de Deporte, and the town renamed it for Alfonso Murube, a player who died in the Civil War. It has seen a lot of changes since then. The main tenant, AD Ceuta FC, found a way back into it and now plays in the Segunda División, carrying the weight of a city that feels like a foreign country at times.

The surface is natural grass, green and flat, and there are floodlights that stand like sentries at either end. The seats are white and blue, arranged in blocks that look tired but are still clean. In the background, behind the far stand, there are apartments and a hotel, and the sky is often full of clouds that move fast across the Mediterranean.

Sometimes it hosts big games. It is where the attendance record is kept, for matches against Barcelona that brought crowds who filled every gap. It has also hosted games for Spain U-21, where young players like Fernando Torres and Xabi Alonso once played on this same turf.

The address is Avenida de Otero, s/n, and the ground is surrounded by a metal fence that keeps the pitch separate from the street. It is not a tourist destination, but it is the only ground in town, and those who watch the games here know it well.