Nothing can last forever… even the tale of the infamous Nou Mestalla. Well, unfortunately it’s not an announcement of construction works restart but! In the not so far future we’ll show you here some alternative endings of this story...

After last year’s visit to the 2006 FIFA World Cup host country, the unofficial stadium designing world cup continues its journey further to the west of Europe and stops at the coast of the Balearic Sea. We got to Spain on Jonathan Chanca Del Río invitation, a.k.a. the winner of mStadia Designers Cup 6. Valencia was chosen as the host city, and the main theme of the competition in 2021 is completion of the unlucky construction of Nou Mestalla.

An extra motivation for both Valencia – the club and Valencia – the city to finally bring the construction works to a happy ending is Spain-Portugal bid for 2030 FIFA World Cup organisation. Valencia already has been a part of iberian candidature for 2018 edition, which is why it’s highly possible for Nou Mestalla to make the list of potential hosts also this time.

At the moment, the concept from 2017 is still the one awaiting implementation. Compared to the original from 2006 there’s over 10 000 seats less than planned initially. What else has changed? Façade design has been simplified significantly and fans in the first few rows closests to the pitch “lost the roof over their heads”. All of these actions were motivated by necessary cost reduction.

The competition offers two scenarios for the completion of works. Each one defines differently what is allowed or not. However, regardless of the chosen path, in the end the stadium cannot (among others) exceed more than 50 meters above street level, and the playing field cannot be lowered. Detailed guidelines can be found in the competition regulations, which are available after completing the application form.

First scenario called "Build up" is the one closer to the real situation and 2017 concept scope: simplified façade, roof construction independent from existing stands which has to stay intact.

Second scenario called “Rebuild” offers a more free approach. It allows modification of the existing build so it can fit with roof and façade constructions which can rely on already built structure.

Battling with reality will be rewarded with a higher point multiplier in the Jury vote. The points in the "Architecture and Functionality" category will be multiplied respectively ×6 for the "Build up" scenario and only ×4 for the "Rebuild".

Same as always, participation in the competition is completely free of charge! 3D model of the stadium and detailed regulations mentioned earlier are available for download after completing the application form. Also, a dedicated topic on the SkyscraperCity.com discussion forum is available to contestants, where they can share their progress and ask questions related to their workflow and/or competition.

Designers have three months to finish their works. Competition entries will be accepted from the beginning till the end of October 2021. Then, after several days of competition entries verification and potential corrections, on Saturday, November 6th the process of selecting the winner will begin and last almost for two weeks till the last moments of Friday, November 19th, 23:59.59 CET. The winner of this year's edition will be announced on Sunday, November 21st.

The one who will find the greatest recognition in the eyes of the voters will receive a personalized glass statuette, a replica of Valencia's 2020/2021 home match jersey and – like the other two on the podium – a framed poster showing the cross-section of his/hers own stadium submitted to the competition.

mStadia Designers Cup 7 is organized by Mateusz Cegielski from mStadia and StadiumDB.com will make sure that you are up to date with the most important news related to the competition.

Without further ado – sign up & design!