Building work starts in Malaga on Europe's largest inclusive sports centre
OASIS by Fundación Unicaja will cover 20,000 square metres and be equipped with courts, educational spaces and a laboratory. It has the support of the NBA players' association and several basketball stars
Malaga has taken the first step towards making Europe's largest inclusive sports centre a reality. The symbolic planting of the first tree on the plot of land in Churriana took place on Wednesday, 23 July, in the presence of authorities, institutional representatives, sponsors and international sports figures.
OASIS by Unicaja Foundation will be built on a 20,000-square-metre municipal plot. The centre will be a pioneer in the unification of sports, nature and community, with the aim of integrating people with functional diversity and their families.
This project was born from the initiative of two former basketball players - Berni Rodríguez and José Manuel Calderón. Malaga city council provides the land, while Fundación Unicaja is the sponsor. Other entities, including the NBA players' association, join the initiative with both financing and, in the case of the NBA, support in the planning of events and programmes.
Mayor of Malaga Francisco de la Torre and Unicaja head of sports Manuel Dorado were present at the event, together with the representatives of the other participants in the project, including Boston Celtics player Jaylen Brown.
Project phases
The planned complex will not be a conventional sports facility, but a multi-purpose space oriented towards inclusion, training and health. There will be a main building with classrooms and meeting spaces, multi-sports areas, a football pitch, a sand court for sports such as handball or beach football, and in later phases, a swimming pool. In addition, it will have a research laboratory focused on sports and disability, where the centre will collaborate with the University of Malaga.
José Manuel Calderón said that they are working on making some areas operational as soon as possible, which is why they have divided construction into phases, the first one being the adaptation of the courts. The aim is to complete and open the first part in the first quarter of 2026.
Dorado highlighted the values behind this project: "integrity, culture, sustainability and solidarity". "It is not only sports, it is a space for coexistence, education and research," he said.
"We want to unite nature with sports, education with fun and the therapeutic with the recreational. Our aim is to create a community, so that everyone feels comfortable in this space," said Berni Rodríguez, as they were about to plant the first tree as a symbol of something that "takes root and grows".
Calderón stated that the sports centre will become a reference not only at a national but also at a global level - "an example for other countries", facilitated by the collaboration of NBA players.
