SPAIN is bidding for both the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2035 and the women’s in 2037, with Barcelona’s Nou Camp favourite to host a potential final.
Since the recent launch of its bid, called ‘Bridge the World’, attention has turned to which stadiums would be used, with Camp Nou emerging as the likely venue for the final.
That is not official, but Camp Nou would be the biggest stadium in the bid, something World Rugby is keen on.
“If World Rugby is serious about taking the sport to new markets where there is a rich rugby tradition, [Spain] would be a really great option,” South African rugby journalist Steve Noble told the Olive Press.
“If you look at the last few World Cups going to Australia, then the US, it would make more sense to bring [the tournament] somewhere central geographically.”
The bid names host cities rather than stadiums. That suggests the Camp Nou, the Bernabeu, the Metropolitano, Sevilla’s La Cartuja, Valencia’s Mestalla and Malaga’s La Rosaleda would be among the venues.
All of them will have been renovated and upgraded for the 2030 football World Cup, which Spain is co-hosting.
Camp Nou already has a history with rugby.
In 2016 it hosted the final of France’s Top 14 club competition, which drew a crowd of 99,124, and French rugby plans to return there in 2028.
The bid rests on four main selling points. The first is Spain’s location, which makes it easy for large numbers of fans to travel from the UK, France and Italy, the Six Nations countries.
The second is its infrastructure, reflected in its status as one of the world’s top tourist destinations.
The third is long-term support from across the political spectrum, with the government treating the tournament as a matter of state.
The fourth is the quality of its stadiums.
As with the rival bids, from South America and Japan, all the proposed venues are football grounds. La Liga has already given its backing and has promised to adapt its fixture calendar if necessary, as the tournament would take place in early autumn.
The Rugby World Cup is the third-biggest event in world sport, after the Olympic Games and the football World Cup
Will Spain prevail in their bid to bring the 15-man code to sunny shores?
Noble explained that the biggest barrier to hosting might be Spain themselves.
“Look, Spain’s an up-and-coming nation, but they’ve obviously got a recent dodgy history of administration and missing out on World Cups.”
Spain was disqualified from two consecutive World Cups, in 2019 and 2023 after fielding ineligible players throughout the qualification process.
The episodes were extremely damaging to the domestic game, with many young prospects from Spain’s northern rugby heartlands opting to play for France instead of Spain, costing the country a generation of talent.
But never say never, Noble says.
“It’s a far, far away in terms of where the state of the game will be by then.”
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