Estadio Abanca Balaídos in Vigo, Spain
Featured image credit: Rion Tools/CC BY-SA 4.0/Edited for size
María Tato has stepped down as Spain’s head of the 2030 FIFA World Cup organising committee amid controversy over the venue selection process for the tournament.
Earlier this week, Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported that Tato, a director at the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), had altered the rankings for Spain’s proposed World Cup venues, which meant that the Estadio de Anoeta in San Sebastián was selected ahead of Estadio Abanca Balaídos in Vigo.
It has been claimed that Celta Vigo’s home stadium was initially listed as the 11th and final venue put forward by the RFEF to host the World Cup. The ratings are then said to have been altered to ensure that Anoeta, otherwise known as Reale Arena and home of Real Sociedad, was selected ahead of Balaídos.
In a post on X this week, Abel Caballero, the Mayor of Vigo, alleged that the RFEF “manipulated” the scores to ensure that Anoeta was listed as a proposed venue ahead of Balaídos. Caballero called for an explanation over who changed the ratings and why the criteria was altered.
El Mundo reported yesterday that the RFEF requested a report from Tato to explain the situation. The newspaper also interviewed Tato, who claimed she did not act alone and “simply corrected some errors in interpretation when applying the criteria”.
Tato added that there was “no irregularity” at play, and noted that she would not try and manipulate the ratings to benefit Real Sociedad as she is a fan of the club’s arch-rival, Athletic Bilbao.
Spain will co-host the 2030 World Cup alongside Portugal and Morocco, with three celebratory matches also taking place in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The RFEF announced its 11 proposed stadiums for the tournament in July last year. Vigo’s Balaídos was one of four stadiums cut from the initial longlist, alongside El Molinón Enrique Castro Quini (Gijón), Nou Mestalla (Valencia), and Nueva Condomina (Murcia).
The 11 proposed stadiums in Spain are: Anoeta (San Sebastián), Camp Nou (Barcelona), Gran Canaria (Las Palmas), La Cartuja (Seville), La Rosaleda (Malaga), Riyadh Air Metropolitano (Madrid), Nueva Romareda (Zaragoza), RCDE Stadium (Barcelona), Riazor (A Coruña), San Mamés (Bilbao), and Santiago Bernabéu (Madrid).
FIFA confirmed Spain, Portugal, Morocco and South America as co-hosts of the 2030 World Cup back in December.
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