The president of Italian Serie A club Napoli has set out his vision for a new stadium and it will not be on the site of the club’s current Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
Aurelio De Laurentiis told Sky Sports Italia that the idea of renovating the Maradona stadium by removing the athletics track has been abandoned.
The 54,726-capacity Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, formerly known as the Stadio San Paolo, is a stadium in the Western Fuorigrotta suburb of Naples, Italy.
It is the fourth largest football stadium in Italy, after Milan’s 75,817-capacity San Siro Stadium, Rome’s 72,698-capacity Stadio Olimpico and Bari’s 58,270-capacity Stadio San Nicola. It serves as the home of S.S.C. Napoli.
The Municipality of Naples approved the renaming of the stadium in honor of Diego Maradona after the death of the soccer legend in 2020. Maradona was instrumental in Napoli winning two Serie A titles in 1984 and 1991.
De Laurentiis explained his thinking, saying, “I want another stadium, not the one in Fuorigrotta. We would have to play three years outside the city.
“I won’t redo the Fuorigrotta stadium, but I will build a new stadium in Bagnoli.”
Bagnoli is a seaside district to the west of the city of Naples.
The president of Napoli denied rumors that have circulated in recent days about the possibility of renovating the Diego Armando Maradona stadium without the athletics track.
The hypothesis has been circulating in view of the 2032 European Championships, which Italy will host together with Turkey.
The owner of Napoli explained to Sky Sport Italia the reasons for his choice. He said, “There was the intention to redevelop the current facility and the Zavanella architecture studio had been reflecting on the hypotheses for a month. We also carried out an inspection together to do this.
“However, a new stadium would have had to be built inside the Maradona to bring all the stands closer to the pitch and this would have meant that Napoli had to play three years outside the city. So, I asked Zavanella to design a very modern stadium.”
The chosen area would be located in the Bagnoli district of Naples, which is also home to a famous steel plant decommissioned in 1992.
De Laurentiis has already set the date of the first match: “With the reclamation of the area begun in October, which will continue for another 18 months, I plan to lay the first stone in 2025 and to play the first match on July 15, 2027.
