There are many staggering and beautiful stadiums in Europe. The stadiums breath with the fans and is the fundamental asset of a club. Today we will be talking about one of the most iconic stadium in Europe, San Siro. Here are the top 10 interesting facts about San Siro.
LOCATION:
This stadium was built in the San Siro district of Milan and was named after it. This city is very famous and is situated in the northern side of Italy.
OFFICAL NAME:
“Stadio Giuseppe Meazza” is the official name of San Siro. Though majority of football fans still refer to this stadium as San Siro.
CONSTRUCTION:
The construction of San Siro was started in 1925 and it was completed in 1926 just a year later. The land and location was not difficult to find as it was built on the racing tracks of horses which was owned by the president of AC Milan, Piero Pirelli.
CAPACITY:
This stadium is the largest stadium in Italy with capacity of 80,018.
HOME GROUND FOR BOTH MILANESE CLUBS:
Both Inter and AC Milan share this stadium as their home ground, before 1947 this was the home ground for AC Milan only and Inter Milan played their home games in Stadium Civica. In 1947 both the Milanese clubs agreed to share the stadium since Inter’s previous stadium was so small to held the matches with more fans.
RENOVATION:
Because now 2 of the biggest teams were sharing the same stadium, the higher ups started thinking about the renovation. In the early plans, its capacity was decided to increase from 55,000 to 150,000. But due to safety measures its capacity was reduced to 85,000 spectators that included 60,000 seats and 25,000 standing.
IMPORTANT FIXTURES:
This iconic stadium has hosted many great matches including 2 UEFA Champions League Finals of 2001 and 2016. It has also conducted 2 European Cup finals of 1965 and 1970 along with three games in 1934 FIFA World Cup, 6 games in 1990 FIFA World Cup and 3 games in 1980 UEFA Euro Cup.
OTHER EVENTS:
Apart from football matches, San Siro has also conducted other events. In 2014, One Direction performed in this stadium and fans attended this concert and made history with the attendance of 115,931 making it the biggest event in the history of San Siro.
MUSEUM:
San Siro also has a football museum dedicated to both Milanese clubs. This museum contains many memorable elements including photos and kits of the legends and memories of other important events that have occurred in the histories of AC Milan and Inter Milan.
DEMOLITION:
The reports are circulating nowadays that the iconic San Siro will be demolished despite many fans and supporters have opposed this idea. The new stadium will be built before 2030 with construction cost shared between both the Milanese clubs. The new stadium would be built to modernize the environment and that can cost USD800 Million. Many fans and supporters believe that the management should upgrade and modernize the existing San Siro like FC Barcelona will do it with Camp Nou and Real Madrid with Santiago Bernabeu.
