Laurence Dollimore
THE World Football Federation announced on Wednesday Spain would host the next world cup alongside its neighbours Portugal and Morocco.
Cities across the country are vying for a spot to host one of the country’s ten games and Malaga’s mayor has already staked his claim.
Speaking on popular radio show ‘El Partidazo de la Cope’ (The Big Game), mayor of Malaga Francisco de la Torre vouched ‘we’ll do all we can. We’ve got projects ready for anything they ask of us’.
The Mayor highlighted the council’s ownership of La Rosaleda stadium, the city’s international airport and the vibrant football community as advantages for the city. He also expressed the backing of the football club, Malaga CF and the local council.
Together, their plans for Malaga to host the upcoming World Cup have been underway for ‘months’ according to the Mayor, with talks beginning as soon as Portugal was named a host country.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation also released a list of cities that could play host to the tournament in July, including Malaga.
However, with a minimum requirement of 40,000 seats for World Cup hosts, the stadium would have to undergo improvements worth €70-110 million to increase its capacity, which currently stands at 30,000.
The final venues will be chosen subject to remodelling projects and Malaga’s ambitious plan includes increasing the capacity to 45,000, building a full stadium cover and implementing necessary services such as press rooms and extra parking.
Just under seven years until kick-off, the Spanish Football Federation has not given a date for naming host cities and Mayor de la Torre says nothing is certain. In fact, the Mayor also highlighted Sevilla, Granada and Cordoba as potential hosts.
