Spain insist hosting 2030 World Cup final is ‘non-negotiable’

Rafael Louzan, president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, says Spain’s demand to host the 2030 World Cup final is “non-negotiable” as inspections of the stadiums included in the bid continue.

Louzan made the comments at the fifth ProLiga conference, held at Football City in Las Rozas, Madrid, on Saturday, according to Mundo Deportivo.

The three parties involved in the joint hosting bid are continuing discussions while Fifa assesses the venues proposed for matches. Louzan said the process of inspecting the stadiums had not yet been completed, although he described the first phase of visits as “exceptional”.

Several venues are still awaiting inspection, including La Cartuja Stadium and stadiums in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Vigo and Valencia. The outcome of those visits will help determine which locations remain in contention before the final hosting plans are approved.

Louzan also spoke about a meeting with Fifa’s technical team, saying the discussions had been calm. One of the members of that team was Spanish, he added.

The federation president did not disclose details of the assessments or the conclusions reached during the meeting. However, he said he was confident about Spain’s position and understood both what his country wanted and what the tournament organisers were seeking.

The next stage, according to Louzan, must involve direct negotiations between the three partners in the tournament. Those talks are intended to settle the remaining issues and strengthen the bid in its final form.

He warned that continued uncertainty was no longer acceptable, with decisions on the organisation of the tournament approaching and unresolved points needing to be settled without further delay.

Louzan was particularly firm over the venue for the final. He ruled out any concession on which country should stage the match, insisting that holding the showpiece in Spain was “non-negotiable” for his country.

He said the position had already been agreed in principle, while acknowledging that other elements of the bid still required negotiation between the three partners. His comments underline the importance Spain attaches to securing the final.

The stadium plan currently includes 20 venues selected on a preliminary basis. Louzan stressed that this did not mean all 20 had been confirmed for the final list.

He said the venues were, in principle, progressing in the right direction, but the remaining assessments would decide how many would retain the possibility of hosting matches. The stadium programme therefore remains one of the main outstanding issues before the details of the 2030 World Cup organisation are finalised.