BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) - Spain will play the United States in the Davis Cup final in Seville on December 3-5, Spanish tennis federation president Agusti Pujol said.
The match will be staged at the Olympic stadium of La Cartuja which has a capacity of 22,000.
La Cartuja is generally used for athletics or football and staged the 2003 UEFA Cup final between Porto and Celtic.
Madrid had wanted to host the final to boost the city's bid for the 2012 Olympics but Spain's coaching team judged Madrid's high altitude would suit the big-serving Americans.
"There was a conflict of interests," said Pujol, indicating that Madrid, looking to boost its profile as it bids for the 2012 Olympics, would have been in the frame, save for "technical issues," most importantly that Seville is at sea level whereas Madrid is at 640 metres (yards) above.
"It's a venue without equal," he added.
A clay court in Seville should further dent US number one Andy Roddick, whose best performance at the French Open, which is on clay, was a third-round appearance in 2001.
Spain will for their part have two former French Open champions on board in the shape of Juan Carlos Ferrero and Carlos Moya.
La Cartuja stadium will now undergo a revamp to the tune of 790,000 euros (one million dollars) but the overall project, renovations and organisation combined, is expected to top two million euros.
Seville, along with Granada and Cordoba the artistic heart of southern Spain, has hosted a swathe of major sports tournaments in recent years, including the 1999 world athletics finals.
Spain defeated France 4-1 in Alicante in last weekend's semi-finals while the Americans beat Belarus 4-0.
It will be the fifth Davis Cup final for Spain who won the "salad bowl" trophy for the only time in 2000, beating Australia in Barcelona, and who were runners-up in 1965, 1967 and 2003.
The United States have won a record 31 Davis Cup titles, but haven't brought home the Cup since beating Russia in 1995.