San Diego Comic-Con Málaga 2026 announces dates with promises for better crowd management

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The organisers have not announced a date for the ticket sales, but they have hinted at an exclusive pre-sale for 2025 attendees

Ángel de los Ríos

Friday, 20 March 2026, 15:45

The new director of San Diego Comic-Con Málaga has officially announced that the 2026 convention will take place from 1 to 4 October. During the presentation of the event, which took place in Madrid on Thursday, Fernando Piquer shared some details about the annual meeting of the geek universe.

As last year, Malaga's trade and fair centre (Fycma) will host the Comic-Con, but Piquer promises better crowd management than last year.

During the press conference in Madrid, Piquer acknowledged that last year's long queues had disrupted the flow and led to multiple complaints from attendees. "There were things that didn't go as planned, I know that," Piquer said.

Despite these challenges, he holds that the first year has been an undeniable success. "We're starting a new chapter: expanding our spaces and content to offer the best experience to fans and consolidate Malaga's role as an international meeting point for pop culture," Piquer said.

Although there is no date for the sale of tickets, Piquer revealed that there will be an exclusive presale for those who attended the 2025 convention, "as a token of appreciation for their loyalty".

What the presentation made clear was that the goal this year is to improve the visitor experience. The number of tickets will remain the same as last year: 95,000.

At the same time, this year's convention will significantly expand exhibition spaces from 10,800 to 19,600 square metres, with the addition of a second outdoor area of 8,800 square metres. The number of stands will also double.

The Artists' Alley area will also have a separate outdoor space in the Village. Finally, the Meet the Artist area will return after its great success last year, once again offering the opportunity to meet big names from film, comics and illustration. The names of the special guests this year will be announced in the coming months.

"We have been working with the new Comic-Con team on the improvements for the past five months," Piquer said.

Impact

Regional minister of tourism Arturo Bernal has highlighted the capacity of an event of Comic-Con's scale to create jobs and generate revenue for the city.

According to the regional ministry, media coverage is worth more than 66 million euros, not including the direct economic impact on the business sector. "Andalucía has found in Comic-Con an ally to project its image to the world," Bernal said.

Comic-Con will remain in Malaga until 2027. After the third year of the event, teams will review the agreement.