There is finally some good news from Italy regarding the stadium situation, as the council in Cagliari has given the go-ahead for a €50m investment on a new 30,000-seater arena.
This is one of those scenarios that has been hanging for many years, so in the meantime Cagliari put together the Unipol Domus, essentially a temporary structure that was inaugurated in September 2017.
The Stadio Sant’Elia was declared unfit to host matches and was meant to be knocked down in 2022, but there were delays caused by the usual red tape.
Today there was finally a breakthrough, as Mayor Paolo Truzzu announced to news agency Ansa that the vote had come in to clear the €50m investment from the regional accounts.
“It is not yet finished, but this is an important moment. It is a fundamental step to fix up the Sant’Elia, but also provide an important arena for all of Sardinia.”
There are still some more passages to go through and approvals before they can start the process of finding an architectural project.
It is believed to be initially a stadium of 25,200 seats, but could be expanded to 30,000 if chosen to be part of the EURO 2032 project.
This will host not just football events and has a hotel with restaurant attached, but no shopping centre.
The total investment including the club and commercial partners is expected to reach €160m.