Sporting de Hortaleza vs. Sevilla FC: Cup Kickoff After the Train Crash

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Sporting de Hortaleza vs. Sevilla FC: Cup Kickoff After the Train Crash.

On October 29, 2026, Sevilla FC’s team will travel to Madrid. The planned cup opener against AD Sporting de Hortaleza is therefore confirmed, even though the previous day’s cup round had to be postponed because of a serious train crash in Toledo. According to ABC, the accident has devastated the lives of dozens of families.

For Sevilla, this is no ordinary match. The team coached by Luis García Plaza is trying to cope with the postponed round and the mourning taking place across the country while treating the cup kickoff as normally as possible. On the day of the report, the club is traveling to the Spanish capital by plane. There, its journey in the knockout competition begins – against an opponent who is generally considered a straightforward task.

Why the Cup Round Was Postponed

The Accident in Toledo

ABC’s report describes the situation with one important consequence: Because of the train crash in Toledo, the entire previous day’s cup round had to be postponed. Sevilla was therefore forced to move its cup kickoff to a different date. The day of the report is now Thursday.

For the affected families, far more is at stake than a postponed matchday. The clubs, meanwhile, have to reorganize their planning. In Sevilla’s case, the added factor is that the team is due to play in Madrid on Thursday despite the tragedy. García Plaza is trying to approach the matchday with “mínima normalidad”. This sounds like sober planning, but it describes a situation in which mourning shapes the entire day.

Sporting de Hortaleza: An Amateur Club From Madrid

The Sixth Tier and an Unusual Pitch

The opponent is AD Sporting de Hortaleza from the Madrid district of Hortaleza. The team plays in the Primera Autonómica de Madrid, which according to the report corresponds to the sixth tier of Spanish football. It is an amateur club.

Because the regular playing field does not meet the RFEF requirements, the match will not be held in Hortaleza but at the Estadio Municipal El Val in Alcalá de Henares. The stadium is located approximately 35 kilometers from the district of Hortaleza and opened in 1973. It holds roughly 8,000 spectators.

The size of the pitch is particularly unusual. El Val measures 108 by 72 meters. By comparison, the pitches at the Sánchez-Pizjuán, the Bernabéu and the Camp Nou each measure 105 by 68 meters. Sevilla therefore will not have to seek its home advantage on a familiar format.

A Club With Different Working Hours

Sporting de Hortaleza’s players do not lead professional lives. The club, coached by Jorge Mendoza, includes pharmacists, tradesmen, machine operators, fruit sellers and students. After work, they often change their clothes again and then travel to training. It is common for them to set off only at 11:30 p.m. in order to combine work and football.

For most of them, a cup match against the historic seven-time European champion Sevilla FC would previously have been barely imaginable. The draw, which secured the home side’s bye, therefore sparked great joy in the dressing room and throughout the Hortaleza district. Mendoza describes the task as a historic gift that the team intends to enjoy in full.

Sevilla Travels to Madrid and Plans Rotation

17 Points From 10 Matches

Sevilla FC is traveling to the capital by plane on the same day. After Monday’s 2:0 home win over Osasuna at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, the club wants to confirm its good form in the cup as well. In LaLiga, the team sits in the upper part of the table with 17 points from 10 matches.

García Plaza will nevertheless rotate almost the entire squad for El Val. The reason lies in the fixture schedule: Getafe is already waiting at the Coliseum on Sunday. Anyone who plays on Thursday cannot play again on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. “Everyone who plays on Thursday cannot play on Sunday. That is impossible. We have to field a second unit.,” the coach explained. Several players will therefore receive less customary playing time and the opportunity to show themselves.

Sevilla’s expected lineup at the Municipal de El Val is: Fran González in goal; Carmona, Sangante, Cardoso and Julio Díaz in defense; Kochorashvili, Manu Bueno, Rubén Vargas, Peque and Alfon in midfield; and Robbie Ure up front.

The Cup Kickoff Takes Place Thursday at 9:00 p.m.

A Mandatory Task With a Wide Margin

Sporting de Hortaleza vs. Sevilla FC will kick off at the Estadio Municipal El Val in Alcalá de Henares on Thursday at 9:00 p.m.. The match will be broadcast on Movistar LaLiga, with Luis Bestard Servera of the Comité Balear appointed as referee.

Sporting terms, the opponent is considered clearly inferior to Sevilla. Nevertheless, García Plaza wants to “compete in the Copa,” as he put it in the report. For him, competing does not automatically mean reaching the final, but taking the task seriously and getting as far as possible. Two previous semifinal nights against Deportivo Alavés and Mallorca provide him with a clear benchmark.

Sevilla FC therefore begins its cup campaign not with an artificially padded home match, but in Alcalá de Henares, against an amateur club from Madrid, on Spain’s largest pitch. The background remains the train crash in Toledo and the nationwide mourning. The sporting task is considerably more accessible for Sevilla – the circumstances of the evening are not.