Spain's love of sunflower seeds is wrecking its football stadiums

A man shelling 'pipas' (sunflower seeds) in Retiro Park, Madrid, Spain

To eat sunflower seeds, or 'pipas', fans need to 'deftly crack open the shells with their teeth and spit them out'

(Image credit: Christina Körte / Image Professionals GmbH / Alamy)

published 12 May 2025

Snacking on sunflower seeds is Spain's "national vice", said The Times. To many, they are "as Spanish as paella".

Eating pipas, which requires snackers to "deftly crack open the shells with their teeth and spit them out", is "associated with conviviality" – as well as occupying the hands of "those of a nervioso, or anxious, disposition".

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'Horrible habit'

In Spain's football stadiums, pipas are the traditional "snack of choice", said Feast magazine. The "hard-core" snackers seem to "split and eat the seeds in a single swift movement without any trouble".

They're so popular that you might find yourself "wading through" discarded shells from previous games to get to your seat. Sometimes they're left there for weeks, until the floor is "literally covered in a grey carpet of salted shells that crunch under your foot like dead beetles".

"Despite the constant efforts of the club's cleaning teams, it is unfeasible to completely remove the waste after every match," Elche said in the statement. The club says the ban demonstrates "their commitment to sustainability", said The Athletic. Some clubs have also started composting the shells, but others have gone a step further.

In 2023, Valencia stopped selling seeds after its "iconic" Mestalla Stadium became infested with a "swarm of rats", attracted by the "horrible habit of chucking the shells on the floor", said The Sun. "Aggrieved locals" had also complained to the club about the noise of the machines used to sweep shells out of the stands. Fans bringing their pipas from home were urged to also bring a bag for the shells.

Spain's 'football foreplay'

"Pipas are not just snacks, they're Spain's football foreplay," said Athlon Sports. "Fans chomp through nail-biters, launching shells like confetti at a squirrel’s stag party." But Elche's cleaners "faced shell-mageddon weekly, with drains gagging and pressure washers sobbing". The janitors were "one husk away from torching the pitch in protest".

Match-goers, "once free to crack-crack-spit their beloved pipas like caffeinated woodpeckers, now face a nutty nightmare". The ban on these "salty sirens" has left traditionalists "spitting mad", and "cracked the fanbase wide open". "No pipas? Might as well ban joy!" said one, who was "probably carving a seed shrine".

But one fan told The Times that Elche's ban was "the best thing they could have done". They added: "Now they have to enforce the ban on smoking."

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Harriet Marsden is a writer for The Week, mostly covering UK and global news and politics. Before joining the site, she was a freelance journalist for seven years, specialising in social affairs, gender equality and culture. She worked for The Guardian, The Times and The Independent, and regularly contributed articles to The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, The New Statesman, Tortoise Media and Metro, as well as appearing on BBC Radio London, Times Radio and “Woman’s Hour”. She has a master’s in international journalism from City University, London, and was awarded the "journalist-at-large" fellowship by the Local Trust charity in 2021.