Spanish sporting authorities have decided on the football grounds to host matches in the 2030 World Cup finals which the country will host alongside Portugal and Morocco.
The complete list of host stadiums has to be officially presented to FIFA by the end of July, and there are two grounds in both the Spanish capital of Madrid and Barcelona, with Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium and Atletico Madrid’s Metropolitano Stadium chosen along with FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou Stadium and Espanyol’s Cornella-El Prat.
Both the Bernabeu and the Camp Nou are also candidates to host the final, with the Bernabeu the current favorite. The remaining grounds are the Athletic Club Bilbao’s San Mames Stadium, Real Sociedad’s Reale Arena (in San Sebastian) and Deportivo La Coruna’s Riazor Stadium.
The Estadio de la Cartuja in Seville is another venue, and has been chosen ahead of both Sevilla and Betis’ home grounds in the city, while Malaga’s La Rosaleda Stadium is another in the south of Spain.
La Romareda in Zaragoza is also among the venues, although that ground will need extensive reforms, as will the Estadio de Gran Canaria, which is the home of Las Palmas and situated in the Canary Islands, almost three hours from Madrid by plane.
Perhaps the surprise among the selection of grounds is that there is no stadium in Valencia, which is one of the biggest cities in Spain.
This is mainly due to the fact that Valencia’s Mestalla Stadium also needs extensive reforms, but these are unlikely to happen as work has been halted for 15 years on the partially constructed Nou Mestalla ground that is one day intended to be the club’s new home.
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