The San Siro stadium is the soccer symbol of Milan
According to Marotta, sport in Milan has been sidelined. “As a person associated with soccer, I am ashamed to deal with this situation. Milan is one of the most attractive cities in Europe, with Inter and Milan clubs representing two of its main strengths. Nevertheless, the city risks falling by the wayside in the soccer world. The San Siro stadium has been stripped of the right to host the Champions League final and matches of the 2032 European Championship. All because some conservative people, who entered politics 30 years ago, do not realize that both Milan clubs absolutely need a new stadium that meets modern requirements. If the problem is not solved, both clubs will be forced to leave the city,” said the president of Inter, quoted by Football Italia.
Marotta expressed his opinion on what needs to be done with the San Siro stadium. “We must look forward. “San Siro” is an outdated structure that constantly needs to be renovated. “Wembley was demolished and rebuilt, the same needs to be done here. We would like to build a new stadium nearby, it’s a private investment financed by the two clubs. This will bring huge benefits to the city in terms of infrastructure, jobs and tourism. Right now we are not competitive in Europe. “Inter and Milan earned around €80m for the stadium, while in Europe some clubs earn €300m each. This gap has a negative impact on competitiveness. In the last 10 years, 153 stadiums have been built in Europe, while in Italy only three have been reconstructed, that’s only 1%,” emphasized Giuseppe Marotta.
The Milan City Council has initiated discussions on the sale of the stadium to Inter and Milan clubs. A decision is expected by September 29. If the decision is not made in favor of the clubs, their owners intend to stop paying the rent, income from which annually replenishes the city treasury by € 13 million. Until 2030, when the current contract expires, from the lease of “San Siro” Milan authorities expect to receive about € 67 million.
The publication “Corriere della Sera” suggested that the majority of councilors are ready to support the deal for the sake of investment in the city’s infrastructure, which could reach € 1.5 billion.
The San Siro stadium, named after the nearby church of the same name, was inaugurated in September 1926. Initially, it hosted home matches only for Milan. At that time the arena had a capacity of 35,000 spectators. At the end of the 30s of the XX century the arena underwent a grand reconstruction, after which the capacity increased to 55,000 people. In 1947, Inter proposed to the owners of Milan to jointly operate the stadium and received approval. The arena closed again for renovation and in 1955 it opened with stands with a capacity of almost 82,000 people. The last renovation of the stadium took place before the 1990 World Cup and cost about $60 million. However, it subsequently had to spend about 50% of the original amount to correct design flaws.
“San Siro” hosted matches of the 1934 and 1990 World Cups, the 1980 European Championship, the finals of the European Cup (1965, 1970) and the Champions League (2001, 2016). In 1979, the stadium was officially renamed in honor of Giuseppe Meazza, the legendary Italian striker, a two-time world champion (1934, 1938) who played for both Milan clubs but spent most of his career at Inter. Meazza, called the “Italian Pele”, is still the second highest scorer in Squadra Azzurra history – he scored 33 during his career with the national team and is second only to Luigi Riva (35 goals).
Logos Press previously reported on the difficulties experienced in the construction of new stadiums before the European Championship in 2032. Due to the lack of the necessary number of arenas that meet modern requirements, Italy, which won the right to host the tournament together with Turkey, is at risk of losing it. The main reason for the deteriorating state of soccer infrastructure in the Apennines faced by private clubs lies in the excessive bureaucratization of the process of building new facilities and the lack of financial interest of municipal authorities, which risk being deprived of a permanent income due to the emergence of private stadiums.
