“For the final, a stadium with a minimum capacity of 80,000 seats is required. Portugal does not have a stadium with these characteristics and will not make investments to expand stadiums, therefore it will not be a candidate to host the World Cup final”, said the coordinator of the football committee, António Laranjo.
Since Estádio da Luz, Estádio José Alvalade, both in Lisbon, and Estádio do Dragão, in Porto – the three Portuguese venues that are part of the candidacy – do not have the aforementioned capacity to host the decisive game, there are expectations regarding the possibility of Portugal hosting one of the semi-finals.
“Without the final, Portugal has high expectations of having a semi-final. From now until 2030 we have time to iron out all these details, but Portugal has a well-founded expectation of hosting a semi-final”, said António Laranjo.
In this way, “large investments are not being considered” in Portugal, taking into account that the three Portuguese stadiums “have proven to be in the best conditions to host any event”, while in Spain and Morocco, yes, investments are planned for renovation of stadiums and infrastructures.
The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, in Madrid, with a capacity for around 84,000 people, is one of the stadiums “that will be recommended by the bid committee to host the final”, taking into account that, according to António Laranjo, “it is magnificent and has the capacity indicated” for the final game.
“We will have 101 games in Portugal, Spain and Morocco. The definition of games and the type of games is not our concern yet. We are doing more technical work at this point. This task is not just up to us, we work together with FIFA. In the candidacy dossier we will give an overview of what we think”, indicated the former candidate for president of the Portuguese Professional Football League.
Until the candidacy project is delivered to FIFA, in July, the committee responsible for the process will “evaluate very well the costs involved in the candidacy”, and “within a month and a half there will already be concrete data, an economic study very in-depth, about the investments that are taking place and the return they will have in this 2030 World Cup”.
The bid committee has already visited the venues planned for the World Cup 2030, all of which must comply with “several FIFA requirements that must be met, not only sporting, but also financial, operational, guarantee and risk”.
“Portugal, Morocco and Spain are three countries that have very good infrastructure, be it sports, hospitals, accessibility or mobility. This committee put itself in the shoes of the fans and we made trips to Spain and Morocco by TGV, we crossed the two continents by ferry, by metro, all the infrastructure that will be at the service of the fan”.
Portugal, Spain and Morocco will organize the 2030 World Cup, FIFA announced in October last year.