The mayor of A Coruña, Spain, Inés Reis, confirmed that the city will not host matches for the 2030 World Cup.
Spain, along with Morocco and Portugal, is scheduled to host the tournament after the 2026 edition, which will be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
A Coruña was expected to host some matches at its historic Deportivo stadium, but city officials decided against it.
The mayor explained the decision, saying, “We wanted A Coruña to host, but not at any cost. With this decision, we are not closing a door, but opening a new chapter.”
It is well known that qualifying a city and stadium to host World Cup matches requires a complete infrastructure upgrade and meets significant FIFA requirements. It seems that Inés felt this would ultimately place a strain on the city’s budget.
She added, “We reached an agreement with Deportivo’s main shareholders to modernize the entire sports complex: the stadium, the sports palace, and all the sports facilities, in order to serve the club, its fans, and the entire city.”
She concluded, “The World Cup would have been important for just a few days, but the project we are launching today will be for decades to come.”
It’s worth noting that the Spanish city of Malaga was the first to withdraw from hosting World Cup matches due to the high costs involved, and now another historic city like A Coruña has joined them, posing a real challenge for the Spanish government in the coming period.
