GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – OCTOBER 10: UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin (C), Turkish Football Federation … [+]
Italy have been given a warning from Uefa director Michele Uva over the lack of progression on stadiums after being awarded the right to co-host Euro 2032 a year ago.
Italy was handed the prestigious tournament, along with Turkey, in October of last by the governing body, but as of writing not much development has been made in terms of getting the five stadiums needed ready to host the competition.
Italy was about to put in a bid to host the competition solely, but pivoted after realising the nation couldn’t build or renovate enough stadiums to host the tournament alone, and thus prepared co-hosting duty with Turkey.
While Turkey is making progress on fulfilling their end of the deal, Italy is continually lagging behind, with politics holding up projects up and down the country.
“Italy needs five stadiums up to code for EURO 2032, with projects that are already approved and financed,” said Uva. “At the moment, only one is ready, the Stadium in Turin. The Stadio Olimpico in Rome needs a few changes, while the situation at San Siro is more complicated.
“A year has passed since the hosting rights were assigned and there has not been much progress. It’s not just about the five needed for the tournament, as Italy needs to invest in the smaller clubs too. For example, in Turkey they have built 13 new stadiums over the last few years, not just those that will host the Euros,” he added.
“In England they knocked down Wembley, in Brazil they rebuild the Maracanà, these were temples of football,” continued Uva.
“I realise people are fond of the stadiums, but we mustn’t think they are eternal. San Siro is a beautiful monument, but the two Milan clubs ought to each have their own modern home ready to bring in fresh revenue.”
Turin, Rome and Milan have been nominated by Italy as cities that will host games at the tournament, with two other cities yet to be determined. As of writing, Roma is making slow progress on building their new arena, while the Milan pair continue to wrangle with the Milan city council over whether to leave San Siro, renovate it or build a new stadium beside the current one.
Other cities in the frame, such as Florence, Naples, Cagliari and Bologna, are all in various states of limbo as regards to their own projects. In Florence, the builders have already moved in, knocking down part of the Stadio Artemio Franchi, yet around $60m is missing from the funds to complete the stadium’s renovation, after some of the public funding made available for the stadium was withheld by the EU.
Italy needs to nominate the other two cities by October 2026 and, if there is a critical lack of progress, the country risks losing the competition entirely.
Italy last held a tournament in 1990, when it hosted the World Cup. The construction of two new stadiums and renovation of others went well over budget, and Italy didn’t finish off paying the debt for the competition until 2017, some 27 years later.
Italian teams have struggled for years to erect new stadiums in the country, with byzantine bureaucracy and lack of political will stifling clubs from building new arenas. Juventus’ Allianz Stadium was the last major stadium project in the country that was finalised, and opened in 2011. Atalanta, meanwhile, have completely renovated the Gewiss Stadium after buying it from the Bergamo city council in the middle of last decade.
