Madrid, March 16 (IANS) The Spanish city of A Coruna has withdrawn Estadio Riazor stadium of La Liga club Deportivo La Coruna from contention as a venue for the 2030 FIFA World Cup to be hosted by Spain, Morocco, and Portugal. Mayor Ines Rey confirmed the decision on Monday, saying the city had chosen to focus on projects better suited to its needs.

“We have taken a responsible decision to renounce the candidacy to be a host city in the World Cup, to focus our efforts on a more appropriate project for A Coruna,” Rey said.

The Riazor has a capacity of 32,490 and is expected to undergo upgrades in the coming years, although the planned renovation is believed to fall short of the extensive requirements needed to host World Cup matches, reports Xinhua.

Celta Vigo’s Balaidos stadium remains a candidate venue and is currently being remodelled to host matches during the 2030 World Cup, reports Xinhua.

The venues include six stadiums in six cities in Morocco, three stadiums in two cities in Portugal, and eleven stadiums in nine cities in Spain, for a total of twenty stadiums in seventeen cities.

The tournament, to be jointly hosted by Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, will be the first across the Mediterranean Sea. This will be the first World Cup held in North Africa and the first anywhere in Africa since 2010; in South America since 2014, and in Europe since 2018.

In honour of the 100th anniversary of the first FIFA World Cup in 1930, a special match and centennial celebration will be held at Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, Uruguay—host stadium of the 1930 final, as well as one match each in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Asunción, Paraguay.

Thus, in terms of countries, this will be the first World Cup held in Morocco, Portugal, and Paraguay; Uruguay since the inaugural tournament in 1930; Argentina since 1978; and Spain since 1982.

FIFA launched the bidding process in 2022, following new rules that prevented countries belonging to confederations that hosted the two preceding tournaments from hosting the next one. Thus, members of AFC and CONCACAF could not bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup as the hosts of the World Cup in 2022 (Qatar) and 2026 (United States, Canada, and Mexico).

On December 11, 2024, FIFA confirmed that the 2030 World Cup will be jointly hosted by Morocco, Portugal, and Spain. This announcement was made alongside the decision to award the 2034 tournament to Saudi Arabia during an Extraordinary FIFA Congress meeting.

–IANS

bsk/