AC Milan's famous San Siro stadium to be torn down

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Tue 25 Jun, 2019

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The home to the Italian top flight Serie A clubs, Associazione Calcio Milan (AC Millan) and Football Club Internazionale Milano S.p.A (Inter Millan) better known as Stadio Giuseppe Meazza is on the verge of demolition.

Milan president Paolo Scaroni announced the club's intentions to break down the iconic ground in order to construct a new one just next to it, "We will make a new San Siro together, next to the old one in the same area of land. The old man will be knocked down and in its place there will be new buildings built." He said.

Scaroni was speaking in Lausanne, Switzerland, ahead of the Olympic Committee's selection of the hosts for the 2026 Winter Olympics on Monday.

The two clubs will submit design plans to the Millan city council with the new facility budget expected to be around £630 and construction work will take place below street level to minimise the amount of pollution and litter around the area, hopefully it will be ready for the 2022/23 season if all goes well.

Reports indicate that Inter millan proposed to refurbish the San Siro stadium while AC Milan were keen on building an entirely new ground. Both clubs finally reached a consensus to build a new home. The stadium currently holds a capacity of slightly more than 80,000 supporters, but the proposed new ground will see that number reduce to 60,000.

Key facts

• Stadio San Siro officially opened on 19 September 1926 with a friendly match between Milan and Inter (3-6). The stadium initially consisted of four separate stands and could hold 35,000 spectators.

• San Siro was first owned by AC Milan, but was sold to the city of Milan in 1935, who were soon forced to enlarge the stadium due to the club’s increasing popularity.

• It got further expanded in 1955 when a second tier got built on top of the first one, which resulted in a capacity of about 85,000 places.

• San Siro hosted two European Cup finals: the first in 1965 between Inter and Benfica (1-0), and the second in 1970 between Feyenoord and Celtic (2-1).

• The stadium had earlier gotten ignored as a playing venue for the 1968 European Championships, but did get selected for Euro 1980. At the same time it got officially renamed Stadio Guiseppe Meazza, in honour of the ex-player of both Inter and Milan.

• During the World Cup, San Siro hosted the opening match between Argentina and Cameroon (0-1), three further group matches, a round of 16 match, and the quarter-final between Germany FR and Czechoslovakia (1-0).

• The stadium got further refurbished in later years, and capacity reduced slightly due to UEFA safety requirements. In 2001, it hosted the Champions League final between Bayern München and Valencia (1-1) and in 2016 the final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid (1-1).