Minister for Sport Andrea Abodi admits it is ‘mortifying, but true’ to say it is ‘impossible to build new stadiums in Italy’ without a big event and even EURO 2032 is proving difficult.
The last time many of the arenas were given big structural overhauls was when Italy hosted the 1990 World Cup and some of the infrastructure is now literally crumbling.
Club patrons have shown their irritation, frustration and downright disbelief at the amount of red tape and political interference blocking any plans to build new stadiums in Italy, such as Milan, Inter, Roma, Lazio, Napoli and Fiorentina.
“It is mortifying, but true,” confessed Minister for Sport Abodi to Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper when asked why it was impossible to build new stadiums in Italy without a major event to back it up.
Even EURO 2032 not enough to get stadiums ready
Italy are co-hosting EURO 2032 with Turkey, as they were originally meant to challenge for sole hosting rights, but could not guarantee enough arenas.
Even now that number has halved, they are still facing a race against time to get their infrastructure up to code and Abodi is growing frustrated.
“For EURO 2032, we need to name five or six stadiums by October 2026 and then open the building works within April 2027. I put together a working group along with Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, to form the adequate financial and administrative solutions so there can be no more alibis.
“For now the FIGC (Football Federation) is at the table, but in a second phase it will include basketball and volleyball federations for new structures, then golf to develop tourism after the Ryder Cup.
“We already held meetings with the councils and clubs for the stadium issues in Florence, Bologna, Parma, Empoli and Cagliari. There is a three-way discussion on-going with the Mayor of Naples and Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis. We’ll continue with Milan, Rome, Verona, Genoa, Bari and Palermo.
“From this group will be the stadiums for EURO 2032. Our efforts go beyond that, because stadiums and sporting arenas are about the economic strengths of sport, but also for the citizens. We are too far behind on these matters and the time has gone for just meetings, we need to take action.”
Whereas building new stadiums has been practically impossible, the only course of action that proved remotely successful was clubs organising a 99-year lease of existing arenas from the local council and then restructuring them.
“Italy are co-hosting EURO 2032 with Turkey”…Even if Turkey isn’t in Europe!