Por Redaccion 
The Minister of Culture and Sports, Patricia del Pozo, and the President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Rafael Louzán, have visited the works of the La Cartuja Stadium that are approaching their final stage in preparation for the Copa del Rey final that will take place on April 26th. The works, progressing according to the planned schedule, will increase the capacity of the sports venue to over 70,000 spectators, making it the third largest in Spain in terms of seating capacity after the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid, and the Camp Nou in Barcelona, and positioning it as a key venue for the 2030 World Cup.
Patricia del Pozo has stated that as of today, «all foundations and structures are 100% complete and the grandstand has been fully completed, with only the installation of the prefabricated corner pieces remaining, which will be finished by the end of this week.» Additionally, «the interiors – restrooms and bars – will be completed by the end of March, with the preferred seating area currently at 100% completion, and shortly after, in early April, the seats will be fully installed, many of which are already visible in large numbers.»
Regarding the progress of the works, Del Pozo has mentioned that, «in terms of the playing field and the grass, the installation of pumps and irrigation control has already been completed, with the drainage currently ongoing and expected to be completed in 10 days, after which the selected grass turf will be installed, with the completion of its placement scheduled for April 1st.»
Del Pozo highlighted that «the expansion of the La Cartuja Stadium’s capacity is a strategic commitment of the Government of Juanma Moreno, who has transformed a stadium that was on the verge of being declared technically ruined by the PSOE into a benchmark among Spain’s major sports venues.» The second phase of the works to expand the grandstand of La Cartuja Stadium has a budget of 15 million euros, with ten million coming from a contribution by the Junta de Andalucía in 2022 and the rest through financial leveraging by the stadium’s management company.
Following the visit, RFEF President Rafael Louzán expressed his satisfaction by stating, «we are very reassured to see that the actions being carried out are progressing well and are meeting a challenging schedule.» Louzán emphasized the support that Seville receives from the RFEF, saying that «Seville has experience in organizing major matches and has our support to host some of the upcoming European competition finals, in addition to the matches for the World Cup final stage, which will also take place in another venue in this region such as Málaga. The outlook for all of Andalucía couldn’t be more promising.»
The Minister of Culture and Sports of the Andalusian Government, Patricia del Pozo, expressed her gratitude for the visit of the RFEF President, who was also accompanied during the visit by the President of the Andalusian Football Federation, Pedro Curtido, the Mayor of Santiponce, Juan José Ortega, the Director General for Sports of the Andalusian Government and President of the La Cartuja Stadium Society, Isabel Sánchez, the Sports Delegate of the City Council of Seville, Silvia Pozo, as well as the Urban Planning Manager of the Seville City Council, Fernando Vázquez, and other officials involved in the improvement works of what will become the venue with the highest capacity in Andalucía next month, also entering the exclusive list of football stadiums with the highest capacity at a continental level.