Today Europe and tomorrow, the 2030 World Cup. While the works to adapt Balaídos to the Europa League are coming to an end, the mayor of Vigo is already focusing on the project that will increase the capacity of Celestes’ temple and asks for the city to be included in the list of World Cup venues "immediately".

Balaídos almost ready for an intense season

The seven new rows of seats in Marcador End, Río Stand and the union between both stands are almost ready, bringing some 1,200 new seats to Estadio Abanca Balaídos. Thus, the capacity of Celeste’s temple will reach 22,800 seats. The new seats will minimise the impact of the Gol reconstruction on the club's earnings, as well as make the lack of an entire sector less visible.

Another visible change is at gate 19, which from this season will be split in two to allow separate access for away fans, a UEFA requirement that Celta did not previously meet. With these two changes, the club will be ready, at least in terms of infrastructure, to start a campaign with three competitions (La Liga, Europa League and King’s Cup) ahead of it.

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Will Vigo replace Malaga?

And while the club is focusing on the season, the City Council has its sights set on the more distant future. Specifically, in 2030, which is when the World Cup organised by Spain, Portugal and Morocco will be held. Although Vigo is not on the list of venues, Malaga's recent resignation is an opportunity that the city does not intend to miss.

Vigo must be immediately included as a venue, demanded on Monday the mayor of Vigo, Abel Caballero, at the presentation of a legal report that analyses the controversial exclusion of Vigo. Although he promises to prioritise dialogue with the Spanish federation and FIFA, he does not rule out taking other actions. Even so, he defends the idea of Spain having 12 venues, avoiding going to war with Valencia, which is also trying to host the World Cup. But to even think about the tournament, Galicia's largest city needs to expand its stadium. Caballero also has a plan to achieve this goal.

© Xornal Vigo | The mayor of Vigo has never accepted that the city was not included on the list of hosts.

Same objective, different strategy

Metaphorically, it will be the size of the Santiago Bernabéu or the Camp Nou, the mayor described the new Tribuna Stand in Radio Vigo. According to him, the expansion will increase the stadium's total capacity to the 45,000 seats required by FIFA. The new stand will be much higher than the others, which forces the club to modify the roof so that it will have a wave shape that descends from Tribuna towards both ends.

All of this represents a major change from the previous plans, which envisaged reaching 30,000 seats after the reform of Gol and placing some 10,000 provisional seats for the World Cup in a structure located above the current Tribuna Stand, which is on a single level.

However, according to the mayor, a capacity so superior to the current one is favourable for a Celta that could even reach 30,000 season pass holders if it were not limited by the current capacity. In economic terms, he assures that the budget would not be high because concrete in a construction site is very cheap and part of the current structure would be preserved. In addition, a larger stadium could attract more concerts, generating significant revenue. We already have the project, he announced, promising to present it to the public in a while.

© Miguel Ciołczyk Garcia | Tribuna is the only one-level stand.