The Serie A team Cagliari Calcio’s (Italy) hopes of being selected as a host for EURO 2032 have taken a huge step forward as the City Council approved plans for a new stadium.
The team’s objective of hosting the EURO 2032 games in their new stadium will depend on how soon the build exercise starts.
Beginning of Process
‘FOOTBALL GROUND GUIDE’ stated that the above approval marks the beginning of the end of a process that lasted nearly 10 years. In 2017, the Cagliari Calcio moved out of the 16,000-capacity Stadio Sant’Elia in Cagliari, Italy, with a view to it being demolished and rebuilt. They have since played at the Unipol Domus where they were originally only meant to stay for a couple of seasons.
The Cagliari Calcio, commonly referred to as Cagliari, is a professional Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia (Italy) that plays in Serie A, the first tier of Italian football.
The 16,412-seat Unipol Domus is a football stadium in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. It serves as the home ground of the Cagliari Calcio.
The 2032 Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA EURO 2032 or simply EURO 2032, will be the 19th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organized by the UEFA for the senior Men’s national teams of its member associations. Italy and Türkiye will host the tournament which is expected to take place between June and July 2032.
Nyon (Switzerland)-based the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is the governing body of football in Europe and one of FIFA’s six continental confederations for the association football consisting of 55 national associations.
Stadium Capacity
‘FOOTBALL GROUND GUIDE’ further stated that the new stadium will have an initial capacity of 25,200 but it will be capable of rising to 30,000 in the future which could see it become a host venue for EURO 2032.
Pedestrian Plaza
The stadium will be located near the Cagliari Calcio former home, the Stadio Sant’Elia, which has been partially dismantled. This area has been largely abandoned for decades but the new stadium project has the potential to transform it. The Stadio Sant’Elia is set to be demolished and replaced by a parking lot and a large pedestrian plaza.
Public Money
The new stadium will be owned by the City of Cagliari with public money being used to invest £42.8m into the project. The Cagliari Calcio will be required to pay the city €100,000 per year for the first 25 years and €200,000 thereafter.
‘A Fundamental Step’
In light of the above approval the club released the following statement, “This marks a fundamental step in a process that began more than 10 years ago and that the club, as the project promoter, has pursued with conviction thus investing resources, expertise and energy while working in close and continuous cooperation with the institutions and all the stakeholders involved. The objective remains to provide Cagliari and Sardinia with a public, sustainable infrastructure capable of generating value from a sporting, social and economic perspective. The above approval now allows the process to move forward to its next stages. Cagliari will continue to follow them with pragmatism, confidence and a strong sense of responsibility.”
Turfed Out
When the Cagliari supporters were turfed out of the Stadio Sant’Elia in 2017 nobody would have expected that they would still be watching their team play home games at the Unipol Domus. It has been a horribly managed process by everyone involved but there is at least now an endpoint in sight. Whether the stadium hosts EURO 2032 matches will depend on how quickly the club can build the new stadium.
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