UEFA tell RFEF to find another venue for Spain-Cyprus Euro 2024 qualifier
The 12 September qualifying match was due to be played at El Sardinero in Santander but a UEFA report deemed the stadium unsuitable.
As the euphoria of their recent Nations League triumph subsides, Spain’s sights are set on their next task - qualifying for Euro 2024. Luis de la Fuente’s team are next in action in September, facing Georgia in Tbilisi on the 8th then Cyprus at home four days later. The Cyprus game was originally scheduled to be played in Santander at El Sardinero but it seems that the Spanish Football Federation must find another stadium to host the game. Last week, the RFEF received a report from UEFA which stated that El Sardinero did not meet the requisites to stage an international game.
El Sardinero is rated as a category 2 stadium, according to UEFA’s strict infrastructure guidelines, but to host official international games, stadiums must be classified in category 4 - the highest level. The RFEF have spent the past few days looking for an alternative stadium and while they have whittle the options down, a decision has yet to be made.
The Cantabrian Football Federation issued a statement to express their disappointment that El Sardinero has been deemed unsuitable to host the Spain vs Cyprus match: “Bearing in mind the timeline for remodelling work, we cannot guarantee that the stadium will be ready, with all of the renovation complete, before 30 July, the deadline established by UEFA. It also makes it harder to stay within the legal, contractual process set by the RFEF and so, we have taken the responsible step of abandoning the plan to stage this game in Cantabria. Sadly, it cannot be staged at this moment in time due to the impossibility of meeting the conditions required by UEFA”.
The Cantabrian Federation added that it is fully committed to staging Spain’s international games in the region in the near future: “The RFCF will continue working with the hope that Cantabrian football can enjoy and host an international game of these characteristics,” the statement concluded. UEFA do not publish a list of the stadiums that are rated category 4 but two of Spain’s elite stadiums, the Bernabéu and Camp Nou, will definitely not be able to stage the Spain vs Cyprus match as they are undergoing major renovation work.