MEXICO CITY — Roberto Ruano has a luxurious box at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, where he and his family can watch football games and other events in privacy and comfort.
He has no plans to give that up at the 2026 World Cup.
When the stadium is handed over to FIFA for the tournament co-hosted by Mexico and the United States, Ruano hopes the world football body will respect an agreement dating back to the stadium’s construction six decades ago that gave box owners unlimited access to its seats for 99 people. years.
“We already paid for the right to be there when we bought the title and there can be no restrictions for us,” says Ruano, 61, spokesman for an association of 134 cabin owners. “We have a title to support us. It’s not up for debate.”
It is unclear whether the stadium owner and FIFA see things that way.
FIFA wants full control of World Cup stadiums 30 days before the first game and seven days after the last. But the peculiar story of how the boxes were purchased in Azteca complicates things.
To help finance the stadium’s construction in the 1960s, Mexican businessman Emilio Azcárraga Milmo sold boxes to private investors for 115,000 pesos, or about $9,000 at the time, giving owners the right to use them for 99 years. This included access to football games, concerts and other events, including the 1970 and 1986 World Cups in Mexico, Ruano says.
“There were no problems in 1970. For the 1986 World Cup, they wanted us out and we met with FIFA officials, and they allowed us to use our place without extra payment, so there is a precedent for that,” he adds.
Azteca boxes are a prime commodity in Mexico City. The current asking price for a 20-square-meter (65-square-foot) box ranges from 15 million to 25 million pesos ($900,000 to $1.5 million). Some owners rent them out for specific events.
The 83,000-seat stadium will host five games during the 2026 World Cup, including the opening match.
Ruano, whose father purchased the box title, said he is hopeful the box issue will be resolved following talks with stadium officials last week, although no concrete proposals are on the table yet.
Emilio Azcarraga Jean, owner of the stadium through multimedia company Televisa and son of Emilio Azcárraga Milmo, says he expects an agreement soon.
“For my father, at the time, it was very important to sell the boxes to finish the construction and, so far, there have been no previous problems with the owners of the boxes. We will try to find a solution,” Azcarraga Jean told W Radio, owned by Televisa.
Asked to comment, FIFA states that it is collaborating with all 16 host cities of the 2026 World Cup, including on plans to remodel the Azteca Stadium, which is expected to go down in football history as the first venue to host three-a-side games. World Cups.
“Specific details on fan access and other match information will be announced in due course,” FIFA states.
The details of the Azteca’s remodeling plans are unclear, but Ruano says some box owners outside of his association have agreed to free up their seats for the 2026 tournament in exchange for upgrades to their boxes and other benefits.
“Every homeowner has the right to see what’s best for them,” he says. “But that’s not my case, I have the right to be there and no one can force me to leave. It would be like someone forced me to leave my own house.”
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AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed.
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