‘Heel of God’ stadium has World Cup future put in doubt after ‘£3m budget disappears’

A former Champions League stadium that remains iconic in LaLiga could reportedly lose its hosting rights for the 2030 World Cup.

Estadio Riazor is among the nine Spanish venues for the tournament in four years, which will be co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

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The 32,490-seat venue has been the home of Deportivo de La Coruña since it was built back in 1944.

Galicia’s largest football arena will be the region’s sole stadium at the World Cup and was used for three games in the 1982 tournament.

The Estadio Riazor joins Madrid’s Bernabeu and Wanda Metropolitano, alongside the revamped Nou Camp, for 2030.

Deportivo were due to emulate Barcelona in renovating their home stadium, but the project has since encountered several problems.

Deportivo stadium update

It is the only one of the 2030 World Cup grounds yet to have started any construction or modernisation to become tournament-ready.

To make matters worse, funds previously set aside for the works have disappeared from the city’s 2026 budget.

Last year, an initial €1.5 million (£1.3m) had been allocated for the renovation, which was expected to cost a total of €3.5m (£3m).

FIFA’s final evaluation is scheduled for September, and the Partido Popular are concerned by the lack of a stadium design.

An official admitted that it was ‘very late’ in comparison to other cities vying for World Cup hosting rights, and plans are now in doubt.

The talkSPORT verdict

“It needs a makeover,” European football expert Andy Brassell told talkSPORT.com. “I’m not convinced it needs an expansion.

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“There’s a ceiling to exactly how big they can be. You’re talking about making it 50 per cent bigger again than it already is.

“It’s quite a large rise in capacity. So, quite how they’re going to do that and make it sustainable on a regular basis once the World Cup finals have been and gone, I think is a fascinating question really.

“One of the problems we’ve had in Iberia before, and if you think of Euro 2004, for example, the competition organisers created these stadiums that turned out to be complete white elephants.

“In places like Leiria for example, clubs like Beira-Mar that were unable to fill their stadium, who were getting top-flight games, they played in front of 900 people in a stadium that held 30,000, and in the end had to move out because they couldn’t pay the electricity bill and the upkeep.

“I’m not suggesting that’s going to happen to Deportivo, but I’m saying that when you’re building things for a major tournament, keep an eye on sustainability and how it’s going to work out in the long term is really, really important.

“The Estadio Riazor is one of the most beautiful and beautifully situated stadiums in Europe. It’s brilliant, it’s really, really nice.

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David Estany Garea / Concello A Coruña

“I think leaning into that physical side of it makes it obviously attractive. I think it will be something beautiful to see.

“The first time I went in 2004, it could have done with a lick of paint, I think it’s fair to say.

“So, to have it updated is no bad thing, but Real Madrid have shown that you can have your stadium updated without making it larger.

“I mean, they didn’t add one extra seat when they spent half a billion euros renovating the Bernabeu. But now, I think there’s a middle ground to be found. As I said, it has to be going forward sustainable.

“It’s so out of the way geographically, it’s not going to attract casual visitors. And it’s going to take an absolutely world-beating depot team to fill that up every single week.

“So, I have my concerns about that. But in terms of it being protected, encouraged, and looked after, I’m all in favour of it.”

David Estany Garea / Concello A Coruña

‘Heel of God’ stadium

Even before any renovation, Estadio Riazor remains famous across Europe, having last hosted Champions League matches in 2004.

It also holds the unique feat of going 18 games without Real Madrid managing to beat Depor in La Coruña.

That epic run that started with a 3-0 win for Los Blancos in 1991/92 was finally ended in style during a 3-1 victory on January 30, 2010.

16 years later, José María Gutiérrez Hernández, aka Guti, rightly lays claim to one of the most iconic assists ever for Madrid’s second.

‘The Heel of God,’ later ran Marca’s headline – Guti still uses that front page as his profile picture on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Daniel Aranzubia, Deportivo’s goalkeeper on that day, told The Athletic: “Guti ran through alone. It was just him and me.

Marca

“Obviously, I expected him to shoot. When someone drives into the area like that, with no teammates up with him, the normal thing would be to for him to swing his leg at it.

“When he passed the ball back to [Karim] Benzema, it did not just surprise me, it surprised everyone — the other defenders, his own colleagues, the spectators in the stadium.

“In the changing room afterwards, we still couldn’t believe what had happened.

“Juca, the centre-back, had been running back with him, and there were midfielders trying to close the space, but not a single one of us had imagined he would do that.

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“It was a slice of genius, a moment of clarity in a key moment – the kind of thing only great players can produce. I was unfortunate enough to be involved… or maybe I was fortunate.”

“I don’t think ‘enjoy’ is the word, but I can admire what he did,” Aranzubia added.

“In all the matches I played in, and all the matches I have watched, I have never seen anyone else try anything like it. It was a work of art.”