Gran Canaria Stadium ‘La Nube’ project hit tender roadblock

Article posted by Coliseum, July 28^th, 2026

Image: Estadio Gran Canaria, Merelun, CC BY-SA 4.0

There are three main arguments put forward by the construction companies for not participating in the tender of the Island Sports Institute (IID), dependent on the Gran Canaria Island Council, for the renovation and expansion of the Gran Canaria Stadium in Canary Island, Spain.

The three reasons cited are the cost factor, the completion timeframe and the penalty clause.

‘Canarias7’ stated that the project, called ‘La Nube’ (The Cloud), was put out to tender for €174.7 million last June and the deadline for submitting proposals was July 7^th. The aim is to totally redevelop the Gran Canaria Stadium so that it meets FIFA’s requirements for hosting the 2030 FIFA World Cup™ which is being jointly organized by Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

The Island Sports Institute (IID) is the autonomous sports governing body for the Cabildo de Gran Canaria (the local island Government) in Spain.

The Gran Canaria Island Council (known locally as the Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria) is the primary governing and administrative body of Gran Canaria, Spain. It holds localized authority over public transport, roads, environment, tourism, and culture for the entire island.

The 32,392-seat Gran Canaria Stadium is a football stadium in Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain. It is currently used for football matches and is home to the Segunda División (the second tier of the Spanish football league system) team UD Las Palmas.

The Gran Canaria Stadium (Estadio Gran Canaria) is undergoing a major €100+ million holistic redevelopments to host matches for the 2030 FIFA World Cup™. Nicknamed the ‘La Nube’ (The Cloud) the project will expand the capacity of the stadium roughly to 44,000 seats and adds a highly sustainable, wraparound roof.

The 2030 FIFA World Cup™ is scheduled to be the 24^th FIFA World Cup™, the quadrennial international football tournament that is contested by the Men’s national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament is planned to be jointly hosted by Morocco, Portugal and Spain and will be held from June 8^th-July 21^st, 2030. In honor of the 100^th anniversary of the first edition of the World Cup held in 1930 a special match and celebration are scheduled to be held at the 60,235-capacity Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, Uruguay – the host stadium of the 1930 Final – as well as one match each in the 85,018-capacity Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the 32,000-seat Estadio Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb in Asunción, Paraguay.

Tender non-participation

Why has it been left unfilled? It is basically for three reasons that revolve around the economic issues.

Cost Issues

‘Canarias7’ further stated that firstly the companies believe the actual cost of the project, as currently designed, will far exceed the €174.7 million tender amount. In this regard, it’s worth noting that the construction sector has been one of the most vulnerable to rising prices for goods and services in the last two years compounded by the additional costs associated with remoteness and the island location.

Timeline

Another decisive factor has been the planned completion timeframe. The Gran Canaria Stadium redecoration work should be almost completed by July 2029 to obtain FIFA approval and the construction companies believe that the timeframe is very short. Adding to this is the fact that the work must be carried out without closing the stadium to sporting use as the UD Las Palmas will continue to play there which necessitates phasing the work and slows down the process.

Deadline Non-compliance

A third compelling argument has been the penalty clause included by the Cabildo (the primary governing body for each of the seven main islands in the Canary Islands archipelago) in the tender in case of non-compliance with the deadlines which has led several companies to understand that the risk of taking on the renovation and expansion work of the Gran Canaria Stadium was very high.

Tender Void

After the tender has been declared void the Cabildo now has basically two options: Reconfigure the bidding process, resorting to a new exercise which increases the risk of not having the work completed on time or resort to a negotiated procedure without publicity.

Negotiated Procedure Sans Publicity

In the second case, the negotiated procedure without publicity, the public sector procurement law indicates that the initial conditions of the contract cannot be substantially modified specifying that “under no circumstances can the tender price be increased or the remuneration system be modified”.

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