The ceremony options an athletes’ parade in all 4 “clusters” of a sprawling Olympics
The San Siro has been internet hosting AC Milan and Inter Milan soccer matches for a century. Picture: AFP/File
MILAN:
One of many world’s most well-known stadiums is ready for a final hurrah on the worldwide stage with the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics on the San Siro on Friday.
Lengthy thought-about one of many temples of soccer, the San Siro will introduce the Milan-Cortina Video games to the world with a ceremony that includes an athletes’ parade held in all 4 “clusters” of a sprawling Olympics being held throughout an enormous space of northern Italy.
However the iconic previous floor is on the right track to get replaced by a shiny new area after a century of internet hosting Inter Milan and AC Milan matches.
In September the native authorities of Italy’s financial capital accredited a 197-million-euro ($229.5 million) sale of simply over 28 hectares (70 acres) of public land, on which the San Siro sits, to the 2 golf equipment.
Inter and AC Milan will abandon the long-lasting floor as soon as their new stadium is constructed, the thought being that it’s completed in time to host matches on the 2032 European Championship to be collectively held in Italy and Turkey.
The 2 Milan golf equipment — European soccer royalty now each owned by American funding funds — are planning the development of a contemporary 71,500-capacity stadium to the quick west of the present San Siro, on an space at the moment occupied by matchday automotive parking and a neighborhood park.
As soon as the brand new floor is constructed, San Siro can be nearly fully demolished to make means for brand new parkland, workplace area and leisure services.
The present stadium now not meets European soccer governing physique UEFA’s necessities to host main occasions and was denied the 2027 Champions League ultimate.
Which means Friday’s ceremony will seemingly be the final main worldwide sporting occasion hosted at a stadium which is so beloved it’s nicknamed “Soccer’s La Scala” after Milan’s historic opera home.
Milanese icon
The San Siro was inaugurated with a derby match between Inter and AC Milan on September 19, 1926 and through the years it has hosted World Cup and European Championship matches, in addition to dozens of fixtures for the Italian nationwide staff.
Initially owned by AC Milan earlier than being purchased by town within the Nineteen Thirties, with Inter making it their dwelling in 1947, the San Siro has been renovated a number of instances, with the final main works being carried out forward of the 1990 World Cup.
That restyling, which added a 3rd tier to the stadium, gave the San Siro the futuristic look — with spiralling exterior columns and a placing crimson roof — that also catches the attention over three many years later.
The San Siro additionally doubles up as one among Italy’s premier live performance venues, the place a few of the world’s largest pop music stars have strutted their stuff since reggae icon Bob Marley turned the primary in 1980.
From the Rolling Stones and David Bowie, proper as much as modern superstars Beyonce and Taylor Swift, the stadium attracts huge crowds for summertime performances from worldwide hit machines and native favourites like Grammy-winning rock band Maneskin.
The brand new stadium ought to it’s constructed as scheduled by the top of 2030, however with a ultimate venture a great distance from being accredited by town, nothing is for certain, particularly with native elections coming subsequent 12 months.
Politicians on the native and nationwide stage have repeatedly expressed anger on the concept of flattening a logo of Milan and in 2023 succeeded in torpedoing a earlier try by the golf equipment to construct a brand new stadium on the identical website.
