The San Siro Stadium, home to Italian giants Inter and AC Milan, will be demolished with a new ground set to be built nearby, it was confirmed on Monday.
AC Milan president Paolo Scaroni announced the club’s intentions to tear down the iconic ground, officially known as the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, in order to build a new home.
Everything is proceeding,” he told Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport.
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.
The San Siro originally opened in 1926 as the home of AC Milan, with Inter entering a ground-share with their rivals in 1947 and staying there ever since.
The stadium currently boasts a capacity of slightly more than 80,000 supporters, but the proposed new ground will see that number reduce to 60,000.
It is believed that Inter were keen to merely refurbish the San Siro stadium while AC Milan were keen to build an entirely new ground, with both clubs now reaching a consensus to build a new home right beside their current one in order to avoid both sides playing in front of a reduced capacity while construction was taking place.
Both clubs will now submit a joint proposal for the new ground, which they are hoping to build on the site of the car park beside the current stadium so that they can continue to play in the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium while the new ground is being built.
The project will cost around €700m, with both clubs hoping to move in at the beginning of the 2022/23 season.
According to the Daily Mail, the clubs’ proposal will include plans to place the pitch below street level in order to reduce the visual impact of the stadium and prevent it from dominating the local skyline.
