The return of football to the Estadio de Vallecas was supposed to serve to close one of the most turbulent chapters in recent years for Rayo Vallecano, but it has ended up opening another. During the early hours of this Saturday, hours before the Trofeo de Vallecas against Cagliari, the authorities' box appeared with torn seats, graffiti, and messages against the club's president, among them the already habitual "Presa, vete ya". Rayo has classified what happened as an "assault" on its social headquarters, has reported the events to the authorities, and has announced that on Monday it will file a complaint accompanied by images from the security cameras. For the moment, those responsible have not been publicly identified and there are no elements that allow attributing the damage to the organizations that have called for the legal protests in recent months.
The episode is the latest chapter in a confrontation that began long before. The Community of Madrid, owner of the stadium, temporarily suspended the concession to Rayo on July 28 after an audit detected deficiencies in security, maintenance, and health and described a situation of "widespread obsolescence" and "severe regulatory non-compliance." The measure forced the team to seek other fields to play its home matches and opened a public battle with the management of Martín Presa, who rejected the conclusions of the report and defended that the venue could be used safely.
Why Vallecas was closed
The immediate origin of the closure was the audit commissioned on the state of the stadium. The regional government considered that the deficiencies justified temporarily suspending the concession to carry out urgent actions and even spoke of a period of two to six months. Rayo responded that several of the conclusions were incorrect and maintained during the summer that the venue met the necessary requirements. The dispute even reached the access of the technicians: at the end of July, the Community reported that for two days it had been unable to enter the stadium to begin work, while the club and the Administration exchanged statements about who should assume the actions.
The situation began to unlock in September. After new inspections, Rayo assured that the technicians and the auditing company had confirmed compliance with safety and health conditions. Finally, on September 14, the Community lifted the precautionary suspension, allowing the club to prepare for its return, although the procedure to extinguish the current concession did not disappear. In fact, the Madrid government maintains that this extinction will continue when there is a ruling from the Legal Advisory Commission and has announced a transitional period for Rayo to continue playing in Vallecas until the future management model is resolved.
The stadium has reopened, but the conflict over the concession continues
That the stadium can once again host matches does not mean, therefore, that the conflict is resolved. The Community has sent a new requirement to the club this week to rectify various issues and provide documentation related to electrical installations, alarm systems, ventilation, evacuation, public address systems, video surveillance, and emergency lighting, in addition to demanding the cleaning of facades and access points. The regional Executive argues that there are still pending issues and that the procedure for extinguishing the concession continues.
Rayo offers a very different interpretation. The entity claims that it achieved the reopening after proving that it complied with the regulations and maintains that the Community did not carry out the works that it had initially considered urgent during the summer. In the statement released after the damage this Saturday, the club once again criticizes the regional government and describes the audit that served to justify the suspension as incorrect. These are statements from Rayo's management and are part of an ongoing administrative confrontation.
Protests against Presa go far beyond the closure
The stadium crisis has also multiplied a rejection of Raúl Martín Presa that did not start this summer. A part of the fanbase has been asking for the president's departure for years, but the closure of Vallecas and the possibility that the team could leave its historic location have turned that opposition into a much larger mobilization. On September 5th, around 4,000 fans marched from the Fuente de la Asamblea to the stadium under the slogan "El Rayo is from Vallekas or it will not be." The protest was called by the Federation of Supporters and the ADRV Platform and combined two demands: a stadium in conditions and the departure of Presa.
The fan organizations defend that Rayo must remain in its historic location and demand a reform of the current venue. The Community has also presented a project for a comprehensive remodeling that would raise the capacity from the approximately 14,500 current spectators to at least 18,500, in addition to improving accessibility, services, and dimensions of the playing field. The regional government estimates that a reform of this type could be compatible with sports activity.
Presa's position, however, points towards another possibility. According to information published in recent days, the club is studying a project to build a new stadium on land in Abroñigal, owned by Adif and also located in the Puente de Vallecas district, with a higher capacity and greater commercial possibilities. This proposal generates opposition among sectors of the fanbase, who believe that leaving the current field would mean breaking one of the strongest historical ties between Rayo and the neighborhood. The project is still far from materializing and would depend, among other issues, on the availability and urban transformation of those lands.
The box appears destroyed on the day of return
In that context came the incident this Saturday. The authorities' box woke up with damaged seats and graffiti against Presa, coinciding with the first match in Vallecas after more than four months. The club has linked the events to what it defines as a "campaign of harassment, extortion, and intimidation" against its president and his family and has even accused, without providing public evidence to support that relationship, public servants of collaborating or maintaining ties with ultra groups. The Community of Madrid has condemned the vandalistic acts.
It is important to separate here two issues. The damages constitute a different episode from the demonstrations and protests organized by the supporters' groups, and until the investigation progresses, it is not known who entered the stadium or who caused the damages. Rayo will provide the security recordings to the complaint on Monday, according to the entity's announcement.
"Presa, get out now" also inside the stadium
The Vallecas Trophy was finally contested normally against the Cagliari, although the atmosphere confirmed that the tension between the board and a good part of the stands continues. Martín Presa did not occupy his usual seat during the first half, and from different sectors of the stadium, chants against the president were heard, in addition to critical banners being displayed. The public address system even called for calm and respect during the match. The attendance was 4,462 spectators, a reduced figure for a match that marked the team's return to the neighborhood.
The match, resumed after seven years without the Vallecas Trophy being held, also ended with a Rayo defeat in penalties, although the result was overshadowed by everything that happened around the stadium. The true competitive return will come on October 10 against Athletic Club, when Rayo plays its first league match of the season there after having had to play as a local in Butarque.
What can happen now with Vallecas
The immediate future has several open fronts. The first is police and judicial: to identify those responsible for the damages in the box. The second is administrative: to definitively resolve what happens with the stadium concession, which the Community intends to extinguish despite having lifted the precautionary suspension. And the third is strategic: to decide whether Vallecas is reformed and continues to be Rayo's home in the long term or if the club moves towards a new venue.
The Community maintains that the stadium will continue to be publicly owned, intended for sports and located in Vallecas, and is studying a future public-private collaboration to manage it. Presa, meanwhile, is exploring alternatives for the club to have a larger stadium with more capacity to generate income. In the middle are the fans, who have made the permanence in the current Vallecas and the departure of the president their main demands.
What happened this Saturday summarizes a crisis that has several layers: a stadium that was closed due to security problems and can now be used again, a concession that remains threatened, a future project still unresolved, a broken relationship between Presa and a good part of rayismo, and now, an investigation into the assault and the damage in the box. Vallecas has recovered football, but is far from recovering normality.