The mystery of where the first Cup was won | OneFootball

The first txuri-urdin title, won by Ciclista de San Sebastián in 1909, still carries a mystery, where the final was actually played. According to Diario Vasco, long linked to O'Donnell, the match likely took place beside the Goya bullring, now the WiZink Center. The club’s other Copa crowns came in Zaragoza in 1987 and in Sevilla in 2021 for the 19/20 edition.

Records cite Real Madrid’s O'Donnell ground as the venue, capacity 7,000. Yet that ground opened in 1912, and Atlético’s O'Donnell field was only built in 1913, so neither could have hosted the match.

Another theory puts it at the Campo del Hipódromo de la Castellana. The confusion stems from period reports that placed the final only in the O'Donnell area, without naming a specific ground.

Over time historians applied the famous O'Donnell name to earlier fixtures nearby, overlooking that several grounds existed there, which seeded decades of confusion.

The strongest reading now is the esplanade beside the Plaza de Toros de Goya, today the WiZink Center, which was Real Madrid’s home field that year. It was modest, and the club paid 150 pesetas a month in rent, roughly one euro.

Contemporary accounts spoke of unusual excitement and a fenced pitch without stands, with 2,000 to 3,000 packed around the perimeter. On 8 April 1909 a storm of rain and hail struck, and the Donostiarras, used to heavy ground, coped better than Español de Madrid.

Source: Diario Vasco