CONI President Gianni Petrucci has pulled the Stadio Olimpico as an option to host this year’s Coppa Italia final, in reaction to the Italian League.
CONI President Gianni Petrucci has pulled the Stadio Olimpico as an option to host this year’s Coppa Italia final, in reaction to the Italian League.
Petrucci had earlier indicated that the organisation that he fronts, who own the Olimpico stadium in Rome, were considering blocking its use for this year’s edition of the Coppa Italia final in reaction to the Italian League’s discussion as to whether or not it was most suitable.
General debate has been about whether the stadium will suffice in terms of meeting the demand for tickets for the final, which this year is between Juventus” data-scaytid=”13″>Juventus and Napoli.
Lega Calcio President Maurizio Beretta outlined this argument today in a response to Petrucci’s earlier announcement, but it has proven to be to the ire of Petrucci, who has now removed the Olimpico as an option altogether.
“For us, the matter is closed,” he told news agency ANSA.
“They can think about another stadium. I thought that the League’s request for use of the Olimpico was official, not formal.
“Beretta forgot that last year, Inter-Palermo sold out at the Olimpico. He wanted to put a patch on a problem that he didn’t see still had a hole remaining.”
The Stadio Olimpico has hosted the final in each of the last four editions of the tournament, since it moved from being a two-legged affair back to a one-off match. Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis has suggested that the final could be played in London or Paris this year, but San Siro stands as a more plausible replacement venue.