Featured image credit: CONMEBOL
The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) has proposed 18 stadia for the continent’s four-nation bid for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, including an ‘Estadio CONMEBOL’ in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay.
CONMEBOL holds its headquarters in Asunción, with Paraguay bidding for the World Cup alongside Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Estadio CONMEBOL was front and centre of the governing body’s presentation of venues, with plans outlined for a 60,000-seat stadium.
“It will be state-of-the-art, with all the FIFA requirements,” CONMEBOL president Alejandro Domínguez said at the presentation.
“It will be at the best level in the world. The idea is to have the stadium here (Asunción) and make it an example for the entire continent. The project is already underway.”
Paraguayan outlet Nación Media reports that the stadium will be built on the site of Club General Díaz’s Estadio General Adrián Jara. CONMEBOL paid $3.7m (£2.97m/€3.38m) for 21,000 square metres of land at the site back in August and is said to be planning further purchases to secure the required 40,000 square metres.
Along with the Estadio CONMEBOL, the stadium plan for the World Cup bid also includes Paraguayan venues General Pablo Rojas (Asunción, 45,000); Antonio Aranda (Ciudad del Este, 28,000); Villa Alegre (Encarnación, 45.000); and Defensores del Chaco (Asunción, 45,000).
Argentina will play the dominant part in the bid with seven venues. These are: El Monumental (Buenos Aires, 83,000); Mario Alberto Kempes (Córdoba, 57,000); and three more venues in Buenos Aires – Único de La Plata (53,000); Libertadores de América (48,000) and Presidente Perón (42,000).
Argentina’s list is completed by Malvinas Argentinas (Mendoza, 42,000); and Único Madre de Ciudades (Santiago del Estero, 30,000).
Uruguay’s venues will be headlined by Montevideo’s Estadio Centenario, which has been linked with the final, along with the capital’s Campeón del Siglo and Gran Parque Central.
Chile will also have three venues in the shape of Estadio Nacional and Estadio Monumental (Santiago) and Ester Roa (Concepción).
The 2030 World Cup bid was officially launched in February following an earlier gathering in August. Driven under the banners of ‘2030 Juntos’ and ‘Mundial Centenario’, the bid from the football associations of the four countries has been backed by CONMEBOL and intends to mark the centenary of the staging of the inaugural edition of the World Cup in Uruguay in 1930.
In November 2017, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay formalised a pact to launch a joint bid for the 2030 World Cup, with Chile later added to a four-nation bid in March 2019. While Uruguay hosted the inaugural World Cup, Chile staged the 1962 World Cup and Argentina was the destination for the 1978 tournament.
The World Cup was last held in South America when Brazil hosted the 2014 event and FIFA is expected to decide on the hosts at its 74th Congress in 2024.
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