A FLAGSHIP World Cup 2030 venue is poised to complete an incredible transformation.
and will open Seville's new-look La Cartuja Stadium on April 26.
The site was built for the World championships in 1999.
But therewill be few signs of its famous track and field pedigree once the revamp is finished.
The athletics track has been ditched – as just one of several major changes.
But the stand-out development is an increase in capacity by more than 15,000 to 72k.
Meanwhile, a new ring of stands has been installed to underline the dramatic re-think.
Spain's sporting chiefs reckon it will be the third main venue at the in five years' time, behind only the and the .
La Cartuja was a key part of Seville's bid to host the summer in 2004 and 2008.
The area in southern Spain is often called “Europe's hottestcity”.
But although athleticshas warmed to the venue, La Cartuja's stature was not enough to win the Games for Seville.
However, it did host a thrilling 2003 Uefa Cup final, in which beat 3-2 – when a little-known and now-abandoned rule came into play.
Entering extra timeat 2-2, the Scottish giants had Bobo Balde sent off in the 96th minute.
That gave Porto hope of winning it with a “silver goal” – whereby the team leading after the first additional 15 minutes takes the trophy.
But the Portuguese club failed to net in that quarter of an hour.
Instead Porto triumphedthrough Derle notching his second goal of the night shortly before the end of the added half-hour.
Seville boasts two clubs inand – but both use their own grounds.
But La Cartuja is Spain's fifth largest sports stadium and the national team occasionally play there.
And when Betis were banned from theirManuel Ruiz de Loperastadium in 2007, they switched to the sweeping stadium for a game against .
Not only that, Betis will use the ground while their ownBenito VillamarÃn stadium is redeveloped later this year.
La Cartuja has hosted two finals in , four Copa del Rey finals from 2020 to 2023 and was used at Euro 2020.
And it was there that athletics saw one of the great world records of modern time.
American legend clocked 43.18 seconds for the 400m in 1999, a time unsurpassed until South African ran 43.03 in Rio 17 years later.
But its final hour is scheduledfor a decade after that – when the World Cup comes to Spain for only the second time.
