Murcia continues working to host a World Cup. This Wednesday the Enrique Roca stadium received the visit of members of the Spanish Football Federation within the framework of an Iberian candidacy that, made up of Spain, Portugal, Morocco and perhaps Ukraine, aspires to organize the 2030 World Cup. The Murcia City Council, the Autonomous Community, the Football Federation of the Region of Murcia, Real Murcia and representatives of Pinatar Arena and La Manga Club were present.
The City Council’s draft for Murcia to be one of the venues chosen by Spain responds to the need for the capacity of Enrique Roca to grow if selected. It would do so up to 42,000 spectators capacity. The stadium, rated 4 stars by UEFA, would meet the minimum requirement of 40,000 seats. To do this, a third ring would be added to the top of the enclosure.
In addition, the works would also include adapting the stadium environment with 5,000 new parking spaces, which would double the existing ones to 10,000. On the other hand, a ‘fan zone’ would be set up around the field and the development of green areas would be carried out. The project would take into account connectivity with the city. In this sense, trams would be available with a frequency of 10 minutes. In the same way, a new access from the highway would be enabled.
As for the part referring to financing, all this would have a minimum estimated cost of 15 million euros. A meeting is pending between Pedro García Rex, Councilor for Sports of the Murcia City Council, with Marcos Ortuño, Minister of the Presidency, Tourism and Sports, to define the financial support for said project.
In addition to the expansion of Enrique Roca, Pinatar Arena and La Manga Club would be included as training centers. In turn, the Cartagonova and Artés Carrasco stadiums could also host preparatory friendlies for the event.
the rivals
The visit to Murcia is part of the evaluation process in which Spain will choose eleven stadiums among fifteen applicants in June. In addition to Murcia, the list of venues includes Riazor (La Coruña), Balaídos (Vigo), El Molinón (Gijón), San Mamés (Bilbao), Anoeta (San Sebastián), La Romareda (Zaragoza), the RCDE Stadium (Barcelona ), the Camp Nou (Barcelona), the Santiago Bernabéu (Madrid), the Metropolitan (Madrid), the Nuevo Mestalla (Valencia), La Cartuja (Seville), La Rosaleda (Málaga) and the Gran Canaria (Las Palmas).
Once all the venues are decided, the Iberian candidacy will have to face the other candidates. The main rival will be the one made up of Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile, with the centenary of the first World Cup, in 1930 in Uruguay, on the horizon. FIFA will decide in September 2024, in an extraordinary congress, the countries that will finally organize the 2030 World Cup.
The path for Murcia to be one of the Spanish venues for the 2030 World Cup
Murcia’s candidacy to host the 2030 World Cup has been removing pages from the calendar until reaching this week’s technical meeting, in which the Spanish Federation was able to examine in person the venue that could host matches of the World Cup event, the Enrique Roca.
A path that began a little earlier, with the official presentation of the Iberian candidacy itself. It was in June 2021 and it was still made up of its original members: Spain and Portugal. In fact, the presentation included the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, the Prime Minister of the Portuguese Republic, António Costa, HM the King of Spain, Felipe VI, and the President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Later, in July 2022, Murcia came into play and the Enrique Roca stadium was shortlisted as one of the possible venues to host top-level matches. “The work began a long time ago, maintaining contacts with the Royal Spanish Football Federation and the Higher Sports Council but, of course, there is still a long way to go and, for this, we count on everyone, how could it be otherwise” , explained at that time the president of the Community, Fernando López Miras.
In September 2022, Murcia made its request to host it official. At that time, the City Council promised to comply with FIFA’s requirements, such as the expansion of the Enrique Roca to 40,000 seats to reach the minimum capacity required. Also in relation to means of transport, hotels and adequacy of the number of parking spaces outside the stadium.
This week a new phase arrived in the journey with the evaluation that Enrique Roca and the rest of the stadiums have passed or will have to pass to enjoy the greatest football event in the event that the Iberian candidacy is finally chosen. Before, next June will come the decision of which eleven fields will represent Spain. And that’s where Murcia will want to be.
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