Despite Vigo still being out of the list of venues, the Mayor continues with his intention to rebuild Balaidos in order to host the World Cup. At the same time, he is threatening Spanish Federation with appealing to FIFA and accuses the Xunta of sabotaging the city’s bid. However, he has the support of Celta Vigo, which welcomes the idea of a 40,000-seater.

Caballero threatens the RFEF with appealing to FIFA

The SedeGate scandal broke almost a year ago. Seven months have passed since Málaga’s withdrawal from the 2030 World Cup. However, during this time, Vigo has not managed to get on the list of the tournament hosts. The only visible progress is on the site of the ongoing reconstruction of the Gol stand and the announcement of the renovation of the main stand, called Tribuna. However, no project has yet been presented to the public.

Despite this, the mayor of Vigo, Abel Caballero, insists on his vision to bring the World Cup to Balaídos. In a letter to Spanish Federation president Rafael Louzan, he again demanded that he immediately send Vigo's nomination to FIFA. He also threatened to contact directly the organisation headed by Gianni Infantino to tell him that the Spanish Federation is failing to comply with the principles of transparency and integrity.

© Borja Melchor, Faro de Vigo | The new Gol stand should be ready in early 2027.

Who will pay for the renovation?

The mayor does not have the support of the regional government, as well. He demanded the Xunta, along with the Pontevedra Provincial Council, to pay an equal share of the Tribuna renovation, which will cost around €60 million. The government led by Alfonso Rueda, Caballero's political enemy, says it will collaborate on the project, but will only contribute 25% of the cost, and only if Vigo is confirmed as the venue.

That's the lie. They are not going to declare us the venue immediately, so if we don't start the work now, we won't be on time to meet FIFA's requirements, replied Caballero. Not only do they not want to pay for part of the work, but they are actively working to prevent Vigo from becoming a host city, he added.

Meanwhile, Ana Ortiz, a representative of the Xunta, assured that Caballero has not spoken to us about renovating Balaídos for the World Cup. The regional government bases its work on projects, she said.

© Xornal Vigo | The capacity of the new main stand will increase from 5,500 to 16,000 seats. It will have a single level.

“Why not think about a Balaídos with more than 40,000 seats?”

However, Celta Vigo does support the mayor, even despite the inconvenience caused by yet another renovation. Balaídos has been undergoing phased renovations since 2015. Despite this, Celta president Marián Mouriño says that the second renovation of the grandstand is a challenge and a dream.

"Today we have more than 41,000 Celta season ticket holders, so why not think about a Balaídos with more than 40,000 spectators watching all our matches? We dream of Celta continuing to grow, and a 40,000-seater would put us on a par with more ambitious teams higher up in the table, so why not dream that we can be there," she explained.

The unknowns: the number of venues, Nou Mestalla, Riazor, Atlético…

Although the RFEF has not announced which city will take Málaga's place, Rafael Louzan has made it clear that the Nou Mestalla is the best positioned. But this has not been decided either: Spain could end up with only 10 venues. It could also increase this number to 12, to include both Valencia and Vigo, but this scenario seems more complicated as it would require the approval not only of FIFA, but also of Portugal and Morocco.

The best thing that could happen to Vigo is for one of the venues to repeat Málaga's slip-up. And it is not impossible: Coruña still has no plans or funding for the renovation of Riazor. There was also speculation that Atlético de Madrid could withdraw from the World Cup for financial reasons. Also, at the time, the residents of San Sebastián spoke out against the tournament.

Everything is therefore still up in the air, but the situation in Vigo remains almost the same as it was a year ago: it is not in, but it is not certain that it will be left out either.