River Plate to put roof on Monumental Stadium and expand capacity to 100,000-plus for 2030 World Cup
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The Argentine club River Plate is to put a roof on its Monumental Stadium and expand capacity to more than 100,000 in preparation for the 2030 World Cup, making it one of the largest soccer venues in the world.
The work on the stadium, which was first opened in May 1938, will begin in April and take approximately 36 months to complete at an estimated cost exceeding $100 million, the club announced Wednesday.
The Monumental is located in Buenos Aires and is already the largest in South America with an 85,000 capacity.
The venue will host matches at the 2030 World Cup, which for the first time in history will have six co-host nations from three different continents: Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay from the Americas, Spain and Portugal from Europe and Morocco from Africa.
Argentina won its first World Cup at the Monumental in 1978. It also hosts the national team’s World Cup qualifiers.
River Plate said that in order to increase capacity it will build an additional tier of stands, adding 16,000 seats.
The largest football stadium in the world is currently the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea, with 114,000 seats.
The Monumental project will be undertaken by the German firm Schlaich Bergermann Partner (SBP), which has also been involved in other projects at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, the Santiago Bernabéu and Metropolitano Stadiums in Madrid, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London and the Allianz Arena in Munich.
River Plate president Stefano Di Carlo said the project will be financed by international banks and a new commercial contract for the sale of the stadium’s naming rights for the next 10 years.
“I want to especially thank the 350,000 River Plate members who are the architects of this historic moment and of River Plate’s greatness for over a century . . . who are the ones who allow River Plate, as a non-profit organization, to have the pride of undertaking a project of this magnitude,” Di Carlo said in a message on X.
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