Argentina’s 2030 World Cup debut is reportedly set for a stadium that is currently under renovation. The mayor of La Plata, Julio Alak, said this week that the venue will host a match of the tournament, although FIFA has not made any official announcement about where Argentina will play.
The stadium is the Estadio Unico Diego Armando Maradona in La Plata. Alak toured the pitch with the stadium’s director, Fernando Islas Casares, in a video released by the city and showed the progress of the work: new seats, boxes being rebuilt and a recently installed pitch. “This stadium is going to host the 2030 World Cup,” said Islas Casares, who put the progress of the renovation at about 25%.
The venue has a capacity of about 53,000 spectators, far fewer than the more than 84,000 of River Plate’s Monumental, which was the main candidate in the proposal evaluated by FIFA in 2024.
Even so, the Monumental is expected to stop hosting the national team from 2027, and the tense relationship between AFA president Claudio Tapia and River could play a role in the final decision.
The decision, however, is not made yet. Rosario Central also entered the race with a proposal for the Gigante de Arroyito, and the final call belongs to FIFA. Alak’s announcement, therefore, is a sign of how determined La Plata is to host the match rather than a confirmation, and the stadium still has a long way to go before it is finished.
How the 2030 World Cup will work
The 2030 World Cup will be played in six countries on three continents. Spain, Portugal and Morocco will host most of the tournament, while Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay will each stage a match to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup, played in Uruguay in 1930.
The tournament will begin in South America, with the opening match at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, where the 1930 final was played. Argentina and Paraguay will then each host one match before the competition moves to Europe and Africa for the rest of the tournament. That means only one match will be played in Argentina, and the country’s participation in the World Cup, in terms of venues, ends there.