Almería's Ipurua nightmare: One win in 25 years against fortress Eibar
The Andalusian side face a daunting trip to Eibar's compact fortress where they've managed just a solitary victory in seven attempts since 2002.
Almería face the prospect of visiting one of their least favourite hunting grounds this weekend, with history suggesting they’ll need something special to break their Ipurua hoodoo.
A proper bogey ground
When you think of Eibar vs Almería, it sounds like your bread and butter Segunda División clash between two familiar foes. But surprisingly, these teams haven’t actually crossed paths that often over the past quarter-century since UD Almería’s formation.
What is crystal clear though is that Ipurua has been an absolute nightmare for the Andalusian outfit:
- Just one solitary victory in seven visits to Eibar’s compact home
- Six defeats in their other appearances there
- The most common scoreline? A 1-0 defeat for Almería
The grim timeline
Almería’s Ipurua curse began back in the 2002/03 season with a 2-0 defeat in Segunda. The misery continued with back-to-back 1-0 losses in the following campaigns.
Their lone moment of joy came in the 2005/06 season – a 1-0 win thanks to Kalu Uche finding the net. Since then? Absolute dog’s dinner every time they’ve visited.
After a nine-year gap without facing each other (due to both clubs’ varying fortunes), they met again in La Liga during 2014/15. That reunion was particularly brutal – a 5-2 hammering that cost Francisco Rodríguez his job as Almería manager.
More recently, Almería suffered another 1-0 defeat in 2021/22 (though they did secure promotion that season), and lost again last campaign when Matheus Pereira’s 6th-minute strike proved decisive.
Current form doesn’t help
Beñat San José’s Eibar side have turned Ipurua into a proper fortress this season:
- Just two defeats in eleven home matches
- 21 of their 25 total points collected at home
- Only nine goals conceded there all season
- Finished the first half of the season as the third-best home team in the division
For an Almería side desperate for a reaction, this trip couldn’t come at a worse time. But as they say in football, curses are made to be broken – even if this one’s been going strong for nearly a generation.