Funding boost for new Cagliari Calcio stadium

Article posted by Coliseum, December 6^th, 2023

Image: Sportium

Local government authorities in Sardinia, Italy have committed €50 million towards the construction of Serie A club Cagliari Calcio’s new stadium.

‘L’UNIONE SARDA.it’ said the Municipality of Cagliari has confirmed it will stump up the funding for the construction of the new stadium, which will be named after club footballing legend Gigi Riva.

The president of the Region, Christian Solinas, gave the green light for the act allocating the €50 million contribution towards the building of the venue.

Cagliari hopes that the new stadium, which will initially have a capacity of 25,000, can be built in time for the 2025-2026 season.

The new venue will be built to meet FIFA and the UEFA benchmarks and will be able to host international matches. Plans are also being drawn up for the planned arena to be used as a host venue for the 2032 UEFA European Championship.

A 122-room hotel and conference center will also be built inside the stadium by hospitality company Mövenpick.

The hotel will either be sea-facing or pitch-facing and will boast a spectacular rooftop armed with bar, restaurant, swimming pool, and a sweeping view of the Cagliari coast and the pitch.

‘L’UNIONE SARDA.it’ further stated that the announcement of the funding came at a critical time before the end of November, to allow the Municipality to provide the funds in the budget.

If the deadline had not been met, another year of delay to the construction process would have occurred.

Solinas must now issue the implementing decree and the funding for the stadium will be closed, with a total cost of €157.4 million.

Solinas said: “With this resolution, the story that a Region did not want to build the Cagliari stadium is also refuted. There is now certainty about resources. But the resolution needed to be verified by the officials.”

Meanwhile, the name has also to be confirmed. The City Council unanimously approved the naming of the new stadium after Scudetto striker Riva. But the club has signed a 10-year agreement with Unipol, also to name the new stadium. The new venue could be called Unipol-Gigi Riva when it opens.

Cagliari is currently playing its home games at the 16,416-seat Unipol Domus, adjacent to their future new stadium site.

Built in 2017 as the Sardegna Arena, it has been hosting Cagliari Calcio football matches from 2017-2018, after the 16,000-capacity Stadio Sant’Elia was closed and partially demolished in order to build a new stadium for Cagliari.

Earlier this year, Cagliari Calcio announced agreements with a number of partners to support it in the evolution of the new stadium project.

The partnerships with Accor, Snow Group and bbspa_Group, were for the hospitality and wellness areas, which will be included among the revenue lines of the new stadium.

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