Akin Ayomide
Inter Milan and AC Milan moved one step closer to a new stadium of their own on Wednesday after completing the purchase of the iconic San Siro, which is set for demolition.
The two Serie A clubs announced “the signing of the deed of sale with the Municipality of Milan”, little more than a month after city approval for the acquisition of the land on which the stadium sits. Nicknamed football’s La Scala, San Siro is one of the world’s most recognizable stadiums and the longtime home of Inter and AC Milan, who between them have been crowned European champions 10 times.
Inter and AC Milan obtained approval to purchase the land for 197 million euros ($231 million) after over 11 hours of debate and a knife-edge vote at Milan city hall in the early hours of September 30.
The sale needed to be completed by next Monday, otherwise a public building protection order for the San Siro’s second tier would have come into effect.
Now the two clubs can now push ahead with a project worth around 1.2 billion euros which will radically change an area of just over 28 hectares (70 acres) in a densely-populated neighborhood on the western outskirts of Milan.
A modern 71,500-capacity arena will be built on land — currently occupied by matchday car parking and a public park — to the immediate west of the current stadium which will continue to be used until the new one is completed.
Once the new ground is constructed, the San Siro will be almost entirely demolished to make way for new parkland, office space and entertainment facilities with everything to be designed by architectural firms Foster and Partners and MANICA.
The clubs are hoping to have the new stadium ready in time for Euro 2032, which is set to be jointly hosted by Italy and Turkey.
Italy’s football federation needs to communicate to European governing body UEFA its five official picks for stadiums for that tournament by October next year, when it can present new venues or ones which need to be redeveloped as long as works begin by March 2027. The current San Siro will host the opening ceremony of the upcoming Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on February 6.