River Plate's Monumental expanding to over 100,000 seats for 2030 World Cup

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The Argentine club River Plate plans to build 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 will begin in April and take three years to complete at a cost exceeding $100 million, the club announced Wednesday.

The 85,000-capacity Monumental, which opened in 1938, is located in Buenos Aires and is already the largest stadium in South America.

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 title at the Monumental in 1978. It also hosts the national team's World Cup qualifiers.

An additional tier of stands will add 16,000 seats, River Plate said.

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, which has also been involved in other projects at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, the Santiago Bernabeu 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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