Is world cup football coming to the Canary Islands in 2030?

The Councillor for Sport of the Gran Canaria Cabildo, Francisco Castellano, has presented an official request to the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) for the Gran Canaria Stadium, home of UD Las Palmas, to be one of the venues to host world cup matches if Spain and Portugal’s bid to host the tournament in 2030 is successful.

Castellano said that the request was well-received in Madrid by Luis Rubiales, president of the RFEF, and said that the hopes of hosting this event are "very high" because they "firmly believe in the island's candidacy”.

There will, however, be criteria that the stadium has to meet which are set by FIFA, and work will have to be carried out to “bring the Gran Canaria stadium into the 21st century,” which includes increasing capacity to a minimum of 40,000 spectators and updating facilities.

Castellano said that there are still many hurdles to overcome, but the Cabildo has “high expectations” and is “confident of achieving it.” When asked if the geographical location of the islands goes against their request, he stated that they “do not believe that the distance of Gran Canaria from the rest of the national territory is a problem, because all the teams will have to travel by plane or by train, and in our case we are just two hours from the mainland and we have magnificent air connections”.

In addition, he stressed that the island has “a good hotel network and infrastructure which is capable of hosting any sporting event."

The venues for the 2030 World Cup will be chosen at the beginning of 2024 and, in addition to the Canary Islands, there are many other areas of Spain that have expressed their interest in hosting this sporting event, as Luis Rubiales acknowledged last week during a visit to Gran Canaria.