RCD Espanyol Stadium, built by FCC, has earned a new trophy, the 2010 Stadium Business Award for the world's best sports venue of the year. The competition, organised by Stadium Business Awards in association with Guinness, acknowledges the venues that do the best job of reconciling function with current real conditions.

Two things were key in swinging the panel toward the candidacy of Espanyol Stadium: the spectacular yet functional design by architects Esteban Gasulla and Mark Fenwick, which called for energy efficiency and energy-saving measures, and the stadium's value for money, since the club managed to build a great stadium with seating for more than 40,000 spectators for less than 85 million euro (financed with private capital).

After emerging victorious from all the selection phases, RCD Espanyol Stadium entered the last round of voting together with other major sports venues, such as Ricoh Arena (Coventry), O2 Stadium (London), Cowboys Stadium (Dallas), Twickenham Stadium (London) and Donbass Arena (Donetsk).

The organisers handed out the stadium's award at a ceremony held on 17 June at Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, Ireland, attended by the stadium's manager, Josep Toldrà.

FCC's experience building football stadiums

The FCC Group is thoroughly experienced at building major stadiums all over the world. One of its more outstanding examples is the Allianz Arena in Munich, seat of the official inauguration of the Germany 2006 FIFA World Cup and one of the world's most spectacular stadiums.

In addition, FCC has remodelled and enlarged Santiago Bernabéu Stadium for Real Madrid, Vicente Calderón Stadium for Atlético de Madrid, the Nou Camp facilities for F.C. Barcelona, the pitch at El Sardinero in Santander, the Joan Gamper Sports City for Barcelona and the new Real Madrid sports "city" in Valdebebas.

In 2007 FCC won a contract to build a new stadium for Valencia Club de Fútbol, to replace the old Mestalla venue with a new facility capable of seating 75,000 spectators.

Furthermore, for the 2008 European Football Championship, FCC, through its subsidiary ALPINE, remodelled and enlarged Wals-Siezenheim Stadium in Salzburg (seating 30,000), Tivoli Stadium in Innsbruck (seating 31,600) and Wörthersee Stadium in Klagenfurt (which won the Construction Award given by the Austrian state of Carinthia).

For the 2012 European Football Championship, which is going to be held in Poland, FCC is building the Baltic Arena in Gdansk (seating 44,000), Poznan Stadium in Posen (seating 47,000) and Warsaw National Stadium (seating 55,000). In addition, it is remodelling and enlarging Krakow Stadium.