The National Sports Secretariat and the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) advance in the very incipient preparations for the World Cup 2030, with the remodeling of the Centennial Stadium as the first and main objective, while one of the inaugural matches of the world Cup.
“This week we had a meeting with the AUF and the Montevideo Municipality looking at the different budgets for the renovation of the Centenario Stadium. We did not reach a capacity of 80,000 people because they did not ask us to, but there is important work to lower the playing field to be able to recover the slopes and the stalls,” the National Secretary of Sports noted at a press conference. Sebastián Bauzá.
In that sense, the leader announced that this year there will be “tenders from different companies so that next year a specific budget for the work will be voted on.”
An important work for the 2030 World Cup
He World Cup 2030 generates a lot of excitement in the country, since not only is it the centenary edition of the tournament that brings together the best teams in the world, but the first World Cup was played in Uruguay and Celeste won.
The work in Centennial Stadium It will include an increase in capacity, which is currently 60,000 people, although it is not usually enabled at its maximum capacity. In any case, the objective will not be to reach the available seats that the largest stadiums in the world usually have: “We do not need a capacity of 80,000 people, the idea is to maintain the stadium. The FIFA He came to visit us and knows that such a large investment cannot be made for one game. But it is good to make a recovery,” said Bauzá, in this regard.
The work also foresees roofing a part, without making modifications to “the tower monumentwhich symbolizes everything that is Uruguayan football said the national secretary of Sports. Beyond that, “the idea is also that the draw for the 2030 World Cup can be done in December, safely in Punta del Este”he added.
How much will the remodeling of the Centenario Stadium cost?
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 AUF, Ignacio Alonso.
The works to expand the capacity will have to be financed by several parties, Alonso said, and assured that “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.”
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
