There is a something of a gloom hanging over Italian football at the moment, and few teams are seemingly able to lift themselves above it. Just as Juventus stand head and shoulders above the rest of the country on the field, the Bianconeri are equally impressive off the field. Their state of the art Juventus Stadium is packed to the rafters every week, ensuring that nigh on 40,000 Turin-based calcio fans can watch high-quality football in comfort.
However, when Juventus fans travel around the country to see Antonio Conte’s side take on their challengers, it is a very different story. Should they travel to face Cagliari or Bologna, as they did recently, all vestiges of comfort are lost. It is not news that the Italian economy is in poor shape. In light of that, it is understandable that there is a reluctance to spend money on stadiums, largely left alone since the last wave of significant renovations in the build-up to the World Cup of 1990.
Clubs are generally just tenants of the grounds they play in, and though sometimes they stump up for the cost of renovation, when left to city councils it is not particularly high on the list of priorities.
The fog that hangs, thick and impenetrable, is Italy’s failed bid to host Euro 2016. A number of stadia were earmarked for development in preparation for that competition and, with the tournament having been awarded to France, have since been put on the back-burner. The Stadio San Paolo in Naples was one of those, but instead has seen the Partenopei trying to agree to improvements with the local council explicitly to comply with UEFA regulations for club competitions.
Generally, that is how it works in Italy. Concessions are made in order to comply with specific regulations, often funded by both clubs and councils, but the huge overhauls needed within stadiums are seldom actioned by either councils or clubs.
Cagliari have had the most problems of all. Having seen the Stadio Sant’Elia crumbling around them, safety regulations have prevented the Isolani playing at home on and off over the last couple of seasons. A solution looked to have been found in nearby Quartu, but the hastily assembled Is Arenas is now lacking certificates itself, so the choices facing the Sardi seem to be a vastly run-down and underpopulated Sant’Elia, or the tortuous journey to the Stadio Nereo Rocco in Trieste again. At the moment, they play in the Sant’Elia, but with a capacity of 5,000.
Not even those choices exist for Bologna. The Rossoblu were never due to be part of Euro 2016 and president Albano Guaraldi admits his focus is on a new training facility rather than the stadium his team call home. The fact that their home is falling apart, that heavy rain sends flood-water surging through the bottom of the stands, is one that will be ignored for the time being.
A recent photo report of the state of the old stadium shows piles of rubble, broken windows and crumbling terraces. It does not look like the kind of place one visits for pleasure of an afternoon, and it is not alone.
The Stadio Marc Antonio Bentegodi in Verona hosts both Hellas and Chievo Verona games, but appears as if it has been caught in suspended animation from 1990. Livorno’s Stadio Armando Picchi looks more like a training ground than a top flight stadium.
Sassuolo, of course, borrow Reggiana’s stadium, having moved from Modena over the summer.
While those grounds exists at the extreme end of the scale, there is work needed on even the most iconic of stadia. The San Siro undergoes regular small-scale improvement, but is still a far cry from the benefit that a completely new building, such as the Juventus Stadium, would provide.
As a result, Inter regularly make announcements to the effect of wanting to move to their own, self-owned, stadium. Roma do the same from their position in the Stadio Olimpico, though the Giallorossi’s intentions seem to be a little further along.
The desire to own one’s own stadium is understandable. Allowing clubs to utilise the facilities during the week, the stadiums can be constant money-making machines rather than a venue both spectators and players visit just once a fortnight – something that only Juventus have the option of at the moment.
Of course, none of this is helped by the fact that an envious glance across the border to France, which reveals a new stadium in all the major cities. Marseille has a reconstructed Stade Velodrome, Nice has the Allianz Riviera, Lille has the Stade Pierre-Mauroy; all stand as a testament to what can be done when clubs work with their local councils and have a definite completion date in mind.
Italy’s loss is very much France’s gain. Germany was the last major European nation to overhaul a great many of its football venues, and their league has rocketed in viewers, finance generated and success since. It remains to be seen if France finds a similar benefit, but it will be a long time before Italy gets chance to discover for themselves; they will have to do their improvements on their own.
However, do not assume the picture is all doom and gloom for those who attend Italian stadia. Udinese used Trieste’s home over the summer while they were giving their Stadio Friuli a state of the art makeover. Similarly, Fiorentina have come to an agreement to build a new stadium at a cost of some €150 million, a large portion of which will be contributed by a ‘non-Italian partnership’.
Perhaps most impressive of all, Turin continues to advertise itself to the world. The plans have been approved by the city, and funding gathered and it seems that the rebuilding of the Stadio Filadelfia, the historical home of Torino, will finally go ahead. This might allow the Granata to move back to the stadium wherein they enjoyed their greatest success, currently due to open on May 4th 2016.
At the moment, watching football in Italy can be a painful business. As with many things, Juventus pointed the way to improvement. Equally, as with many things, it will take a considerable length of time for the other clubs to catch the Bianconeri up.
