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Stadium

Pabellón Polideportivo Municipal "El Sargal"

Cuenca, Spain

On the map deportes.cuenca.es
Cuenca (desde el cerro de San Cristoval).
Cuenca (desde el cerro de San Cristoval). Francisco Javier Parcerisa · Public domain
Placa 25 Aniversario Cuenca Patrimonio de la Humanidad
Placa 25 Aniversario Cuenca Patrimonio de la Humanidad L. Vadillo - MaLéPhotoSpain · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dibujo de una vista general de Cuenca , realizado por Anthonis van den Wijngaerde en 1565 .
Dibujo de una vista general de Cuenca , realizado por Anthonis van den Wijngaerde en 1565 . Anton van den Wyngaerde · Public domain

The Pabellón Polideportivo Municipal 'El Sargal' sits where the old municipal slaughterhouse stood for nearly a century. Before the city council tore that down in the early 1970s, the site had simply been a workaday part of the town's infrastructure. What remains is a modest indoor arena that hosts handball and football, with a removable vinyl floor that allows the space to change shape depending on which sport needs it.

The main hall, now called the Paulino Fernández court, seats 1,800 spectators. It is not a cavernous space, but the roof is low enough that you can hear the squeak of trainers on the Taraflex surface from the far end of the stands. The secondary court, the Esperanza Calvo, holds 380 people and serves as a training ground when the main hall is not in use. The building itself is unremarkable from the outside, a functional block of concrete that does not pretend to be anything it is not.

Outside the main doors, the Joaquín Caparrós pitch extends into the open air. It is an 11-a-side field with artificial turf, scheduled for renovation in 2026, and it holds 360 seated spectators. The surface is green and flat, designed for football rather than the shuttlecocks and balls that fill the indoor courts. It is a separate piece of the same facility, connected by the same concrete paths.

The venue has hosted boxing events since at least 1978, and it was used for the Copa de España de fútbol sala in 2008, though the capacity there was noted as 1,500 rather than the full 1,800 that the official city website now claims. The numbers shift depending on who is writing and what they need to prove. No one has managed to pin down exactly when the building opened—1970, 1972, or 1989 have all been suggested—but the slaughterhouse that preceded it closed in the early 1970s, and the sports hall replaced it.

There is nothing to distinguish this arena from any other municipal sports centre in Spain. It does not have a glass façade or a roof made of steel and light. It is a place where people play sports on a Tuesday evening, where the floorboards creak under the weight of trainers and the occasional wooden chair brought out for a local tournament. That is all.