Ignoring a tender and a clear conflict of interest, Alejandro Domínguez has paved the way for his favourite club, Olimpia, to host the World Cup Stadium in 2030, bypassing the two stadiums included in Paraguay’s bid. Fifa has given the green light.
By Sam Kunti
At the 75th Fifa Congress on 15 May, Gianni Infantino was pressed for time, but even so, he found time for a site visit. Together with Alejandro Domínguez, the Fifa president inspected Club Olimpia’s torn-down stadium, part of a complex with old administrative offices and a clubhouse nestled in a leafy Asuncion neighbourhood. The Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb Stadium—named after Alejandro’s father, once club president—now lies in ruin, a mote next to the pitch, where once stood roots of community and history housed 25,000 fans. Although it was a national holiday, Infantino and the Conmebol president encountered a hive of activity with workers in yellow safety vests and white helmets busy on site. Earlier that day, when Josimar visited, the area had been still. A vision of the future towered on two billboards: a brand-new 46,000-seat stadium as a showpiece venue for the 2030 World Cup.
The South American World Cup bid proposed two stadiums in Asuncion, Paraguay’s capital: the historic Defensores del Chaco and a new national stadium. Both venues promised state-of-the-art facilities, flagship architecture and sustainability, highlighting Paraguay’s national character. The bid book notes that “this renovation project could also be adapted for the General Pablo Rojas Stadium of Cerro Porteño club (commonly known as “La Nueva Olla”) or the Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb Stadium of Olimpia, as part of a general improvement of Paraguay’s sports infrastructure for 2030.”
Fifa’s evaluation of the 2030 bid repeated that line almost word for word. Even the bid evaluation explicitly positioned Defensores del Chaco and the new national stadium as the principal venues for the tournament. The Olimpia stadium was not listed as a World Cup venue in the bid book.
So how come it was selected in the end?
On the day Fifa awarded the hosting rights for the 2030 World Cup, Domínguez said: “Having my father’s name on the most modern stadium in Paraguay and the continent to host the 2030 World Cup is a way to recognise his career and thank him for what he did for Paraguayan football.”
For decades, the Domínguez family has been intertwined with Club Olimpia. Last year, the club won the Clausura of the Paraguayan topflight. In 2002, Club Olimpia won the Copa Libertadores, the continent’s premier club competition. Osvaldo Domínguez served as president from 1974 to 1990 and from 1995 to 2004. Today, Alejandro Domínguez’s son sits on the club’s board.
During the extraordinary Fifa congress in December, something extraordinary happened. When Paraguay showed a glossy promotion video for the 2030 World Cup, it didn’t feature any of the two stadiums presented in the bid. Instead, it showcased Domínguez’s pet project, the proposed new Olimpia stadium which at this point only exists on the drawing board.
Titled ‘History Comes Alive’, the 2030 bid book of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay outlines in detail the plans of the South American triumvirate to stage one match each during the tournament, a symbolic return to the birthplace of the World Cup.
In the foreword, Conmebol president Domínguez is almost lyrical: “The bid of Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay to host the 2030 World Cup is neither a whim nor a random project. The conditions for organising world-class events are present, as it has been widely evidenced. But above all, this is a bid which has a characteristic which no other bid may have, that is not related to material resources or logistics capabilities: it is right here where the flame of the most important sport was ignited in 1930.”
He added: “Those of us who are in charge of directing international football nowadays are resting on the shoulders of true giants.”
The Tender
In 2024, the Paraguayan FA (APF), led by Robert Harrison, launched a tender for the selection of a World Cup venue, to be included in the bid book. The process ran from 17 April to 13 May with the APF explicitly stating as its object “the remodelling of the Defensores del Chaco Stadium, to be used in the application process before Fifa in the corresponding BID BOOK.” The tender also covered a second stadium, suggesting three different sites near the Paraguay River.
The APF’s goal was “a sports venue that will serve as the home of Paraguayan football for the next 50 years and should serve as a benchmark for stadium development in South America.”
The Defensores del Chaco, owned by the APF, currently seats 42,354. The winning redesign, by Asymmetric Consortium and Idom, scored 76.17 points. A second proposal for a new national stadium, by JGL and Populous, scored higher at 87. Crucially, Olimpia’s stadium never entered the tender.
The bid book promoted the Defensores’ renovation as a flagship sustainability project, with a capacity of 41,000 fans, “introducing new hospitality suites, enhancing accessibility routes and integrating the stadium with the surrounding neighbourhood with some state-of-the-art urban solutions.”
“Moreover, the renovated Defensores del Chaco stadium will stand out for its commitment to sustainability, thanks to the use of efficient air conditioning systems, installation of photovoltaic cells on the available roofs, bioclimatic design thanks to its optimized roof for solar protection in the north and west stands, natural ventilation following the prevailing wind directions, use of pollutant-free materials of local production and low impact, reuse of water in toilets, rainwater collection in the stands, and circularity of waste, among other planned solutions.”
APF owns the stadium, making it the most financially sound option. The estimated cost of stadium renovation was at least 40 million dollars.
When a Fifa delegation visited Asuncion last September, just a couple of months before the Fifa congress, Olimpia was not under consideration. In December, days before Fifa awarded the 2030 World Cup to Paraguay and five other nations, APF president Harrison did not refer to Olimpia’s stadium in an interview with local media but defended the position that, “The Defensores Del Chaco would undergo a major change. It’s an important project and all priority would be given if Fifa chooses the Defensores stadium as the venue.”
Suddenly, without any public announcement, Olimpia’s stadium entered the picture. It was not part of the official bid, didn’t contract architects, nor meet Fifa’s outlined criteria. It simply appeared, almost by magic, backed by Domínguez and showcased to Infantino.
“All that (tender) was handled with total transparency,” the architect Javier Corvalan, working with the consortium Idom on the Defensores Del Chaco proposal, told Josimar. “Then came the final decision. It was Fifa’s decision to go with the Olimpia stadium in the future. It was not APF’s decision. APF did their job. (It’s a shame) clearly, months of work, teams of professionals from Paraguay, Chile, and Spain.”
Corvalan added: “This hope is that Fifa takes into account that the Olimpia stadium does not meet its standards.”
The money question
How will Olimpia pay for the new stadium? Local media estimate a World Cup stadium will cost over 100 million dollars. A 46,000-seat stadium at a modest 2,500 dollars per seat comes to 115 million dollars — nearly double Olimpia’s projection.
Yet Olimpia’s 2024 approved stadium budget was just 61.9 million dollars. At a club congress in December, Olimpia offered a vague financial breakdown, without a detailed outline of the stadium: 20 million dollars from Conmebol, 31 million dollars from ticket sales (first four years) and 10 million dollars from additional ticket sales (years 5–6).
Earlier this week, Olimpia president Rodrigo Nogues told local media that Olimpia is 65 million dollars in debt, admitting that “the club is broke.” That creates a gap of 125 million dollars, a staggering sum for a club with financial liabilities.
It raises multiple questions. In February, Conmebol announced 20 million dollars in upgrades across nine Paraguayan stadiums—including Olimpia’s. Conmebol general secretary José Astigarraga told Josimar that Conmebol hasn’t decided yet on the precise funding for the Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb Stadium. But can Alejandro Domínguez simply funnel money from a confederation he leads into a club where his family holds positions of influence? Should the Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb Stadium be considered at all for the World Cup? The conflict of interest is glaring.
The 20 million dollars come on top of the 3 million dollars that Paraguay received in 2024 from the 120 million dollars that Conmebol is investing in football development, earmarked in a large part for stadium construction. Conmebol also received 10,6 million dollars in Fifa funding in addition to 15,2 million from the World Football Remission Fund. In total, the South American body will receive 71,5 million dollars from the World Football Remission Fund following an agreement with the US prosecutor’s office. Last year, Conmebol generated a revenue of 847 million dollars according to its financial report. There is no shortage of money flowing through the confederation, even if its liabilities exceed equity on the balance sheet.
“A trust”
And where will the rest of the money for the stadium come from? Speaking to Josimar, Nogues said the stadium project is under a standalone business unit ‘with a trust’. “The stadium is not inside the economics of the club,” said Nogues. “We didn’t mix this because the club is not in a good economic position. The club is putting the property, but the business of the stadium is a different unit.”
Olimpia has also been repeatedly slapped with a transfer ban by Fifa. In January, Zurich sanctioned the club because of a 450,000 euro debt to Italian club Venezia related to the transfer of Facundo Zabala.
Nogues continued: “The main source of income will be the sale of private boxes, which will represent a revenue stream of about 5 million dollars a year. The cost will mainly be supported by that income. We already have a naming rights sponsor, which is Ueno bank, which is approximately 3,5 million a year. We already have a concert promoter company that will run everything that is not related to football. It’s going to be an income of around 2 million.”
When pressed about Olimpia’s stadium not being part of the tender or the bid book, except for a single line, Nogues offered: “I don’t know, I am not sure what you are talking about.”
The Grand Plan
Domínguez however is unrelenting. As host of the Fifa Congress in Luque, the Conmebol president once again beat the drum for a 64-team World Cup in 2030, an idea first launched by Uruguayan FA president Ignacio Alonso at a Fifa council meeting in April. In an exhortation, inviting Fifa members “to think outside the box”, Dominguez said: “Football belongs to the world. We are transforming football. We want the world to be part of that big party that is a bigger one than the world has seen so far. The biggest party on earth. No one can be left behind.”
“I would like to repeat – don’t change your position, but reflect together to do something that the world is waiting for, something that football deserves. That’s Conmebol’s proposal – let’s dream big.”
Perhaps he can use the 64-team format to leverage bringing more matches to Paraguay, a crowning legacy for Domínguez and his family. Conmebol’s secretary general José Astigarraga said that this is “between Infantino and the Conmebol president”, but that the Confederation is trying to get more matches on South American soil in 2030.
Infantino may well get on board. He has walked the stadium site, overturning a tender and ignoring a conflict of interest, once again proving that due process and transparency in the global game have no meaning.
Fifa and the APF did not respond to Josimar’s questions. Conmebol and Alejandro Domínguez were sent further questions, without reply. Populous declined to comment.
Read more about Conmebol president Alejandro Domínguez HERE and HERE..
