Uruguay will invest, at a minimum, between 45 and 50 million dollars for the remodeling of Centennial Stadium, with the aim of hosting the opening match of the World Cup 2030, As confirmed by the president of the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF), Ignacio Alonso.
The news that Uruguay will host the opening match of the World Cup 2030, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup that was played – and which was also held on Uruguayan lands – revolutionized the entire country yesterday. Although there is still the bittersweet taste of not having been chosen as the official venue for the entire tournament to be played—along with Argentina and Paraguay, the other member countries of the joint nomination—, which Centennial Stadium Having been chosen as the venue for the largest football event in the world continues to be a source of pride.
In that sense, the president of the AUF gave details about what the remodeling of the legendary stadium will be like. Montevideo, which had already been planned based on the fact that it could become the place where the final of the World Cup 2030.
What will the works be like?
The Uruguayan team will not only directly qualify for the World Cup 2030, without having to play Qualifiers South Americans, but will also play its first home game, with the local fans filling the stands of the Centenario Stadium.
Along these lines, the remodeling plan contemplates expanding the stadium’s capacity to 80,000 spectators, as required by FIFA regulations. This was presented last August and the objective is for it to be carried out for the inaugural match to be played in 7 years.
According to Alonso, “it will have to be a work financed by several parties”: “They will be between 45 and 50 million dollars and there we are going to target private investment, thinking not only as a football stadium,” he explained in dialogue with Sport 890.
Likewise, the president of the AUF clarified that “FIFA surely collaborate with part of what is going to be the entire investment, but there is no fixed amount of money and the country has to take charge. Here we go beyond the party, the Centennial is a unit capable of attracting investment and you can recover it in the long term. “Without hosting the World Cup today, it receives various concerns such as shows or intentions to set up business units.”
Doing a quick calculation from the investment of Russia For the 2018 World Cup, which was 15 billion dollars, Alonso estimated that, taking a tenth of the venues, the total investment could be around 1.5 billion dollars.
This, mainly, taking into account that Uruguay will become “the football capital” in the 30 days prior to the World Cup, so the country must also aim for other types of investments, in addition to the remodeling of the Centenario Stadium; such as road and airport conditioning, as well as other Infrastructure works. In any case, the president of the AUF acknowledged that “in terms of the country we are doing well.” “I think the Centennial is the place to work,” he added.
Finally, he explained that investment has not yet been discussed with the national government: “We are betting on capturing private investment because the Centenario Stadium has the potential. “We are always looking for private investors who may be interested,” he said.
Source: Ambito
