UEFA CHIEF ALEKSANDER Ceferin warned that Italy risks not being able to co-host Euro 2032 with Turkey due to the condition of the country’s stadiums, which he called “some of the worst in Europe”.
Italy last hosted a major international football tournament in 1990 and many of its top stadiums were either built or refurbished for that World Cup.
Most of those are now in a sorry state.
“Euro 2032 is scheduled and will take place, of that there is no doubt. I just hope that the infrastructure (in Italy) will be ready. If that’s not the case, the tournament will not be held in Italy,” Ceferin said in an interview with the Gazzetta Dello Sport published on Thursday.
“Maybe Italy’s politicians should ask themselves why the football infrastructure is among the worst in Europe.”
Ceferin added that Italian football’s biggest problem was “the relationship between the football authorities and politics”.
In October, Italy has to name the five stadiums that will host matches at Euro 2032, with 11 cities currently candidates: Rome, Florence, Bologna, Verona, Milan, Genoa, Bari, Naples, Turin, Cagliari and Palermo.
Italy can present new stadiums or ones which need to be redeveloped as long as works begin by March 2027.
Only one, Juventus’s Allianz Stadium in Turin, is completely ready to host matches at the summer international tournament.
Inter Milan and AC Milan recently purchased the San Siro from the city of Milan and are hoping to complete a new 71,500-capacity arena on the same site as the current stadium by 2031.
However, the public prosecutors’ office in Italy’s economic capital is probing the sale of the land for alleged bid-rigging.
Roma were given the green light by the local authorities in Rome to build a new stadium in the east of the Eternal City, while Fiorentina’s Stadio Artemio Franchi is being redeveloped.
Last month the city of Naples presented a renovation project for the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, where Serie A champions Napoli play their matches.
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The Maradona project, which includes the elimination of the running track which borders the pitch, has a budget of €200 million and was presented by mayor Gaetano Manfredi as something that needing doing “regardless of 2032″.
Meanwhile, the head of Italy’s football federation (FIGC) resigned on Thursday, falling on his sword after the men’s national team failed to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup.
Gabriele Gravina revealed he would step down as the country’s top football official following a meeting held at the FIGC’s headquarters in Rome on Thursday.
Italy fell at the play-offs again on Tuesday, this time after a penalty shoot-out against Bosnia and Hercegovina and will miss this summer’s finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The shock waves of the latest humiliation for one of the world’s most important football nations forced Gravina, 72, to go back on his initial plans to wait until a FIGC board meeting next week to announce a decision on his future.
The FIGC said in a statement a vote for a new president will be held on June 22 with Giovanni Malago, the former long-time head of the Italian Olympic Committee who was president of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics organisation committee, among the names in the hat.
Gravina’s resignation also means Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso could resign, as it was Gravina who asked the 2006 World Cup winner to stay on beyond the end of his current contract which expires in the summer.
He was elected FIGC president in October 2018, becoming the permanent replacement for Carlo Tavecchio who stepped down following Italy’s first World Cup play-off defeat to Sweden the previous year.
The highlight of his reign was Italy’s thrilling triumph at Euro 2020, when an Azzurri team that under Roberto Mancini went unbeaten for 37 matches beat England at Wembley to be crowned kings of the continent.
But two World Cup qualification failures and a dismal defence of the European title left Gravina with little choice but to resign as Italy shine in other sports while being left behind in football.
Gravina also caused anger on Tuesday by referring to other sports as “amateur” and “state sports” compared to football due to the large number of athletes, particularly Olympians, who are nominally employed by different arms of Italy’s armed forces and police.
Italy claimed a record 30 medals at the recent Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, including 10 golds, and left the 2024 Summer Games in Paris with 40 medals.
The Mediterranean nation also has top performers in a wide variety of other sports, with tennis star Jannik Sinner, a four-time Grad Slam winner, the most obvious example.
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Uefa chief warns Italy could lose Euro 2032 without improving 'some of the worst stadiums in Europe'
UEFA CHIEF ALEKSANDER Ceferin warned that Italy risks not being able to co-host Euro 2032 with Turkey due to the condition of the country’s stadiums, which he called “some of the worst in Europe”.
Italy last hosted a major international football tournament in 1990 and many of its top stadiums were either built or refurbished for that World Cup.
Most of those are now in a sorry state.
“Euro 2032 is scheduled and will take place, of that there is no doubt. I just hope that the infrastructure (in Italy) will be ready. If that’s not the case, the tournament will not be held in Italy,” Ceferin said in an interview with the Gazzetta Dello Sport published on Thursday.
“Maybe Italy’s politicians should ask themselves why the football infrastructure is among the worst in Europe.”
Ceferin added that Italian football’s biggest problem was “the relationship between the football authorities and politics”.
In October, Italy has to name the five stadiums that will host matches at Euro 2032, with 11 cities currently candidates: Rome, Florence, Bologna, Verona, Milan, Genoa, Bari, Naples, Turin, Cagliari and Palermo.
Italy can present new stadiums or ones which need to be redeveloped as long as works begin by March 2027.
Only one, Juventus’s Allianz Stadium in Turin, is completely ready to host matches at the summer international tournament.
Inter Milan and AC Milan recently purchased the San Siro from the city of Milan and are hoping to complete a new 71,500-capacity arena on the same site as the current stadium by 2031.
However, the public prosecutors’ office in Italy’s economic capital is probing the sale of the land for alleged bid-rigging.
Roma were given the green light by the local authorities in Rome to build a new stadium in the east of the Eternal City, while Fiorentina’s Stadio Artemio Franchi is being redeveloped.
Last month the city of Naples presented a renovation project for the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, where Serie A champions Napoli play their matches.
The Maradona project, which includes the elimination of the running track which borders the pitch, has a budget of €200 million and was presented by mayor Gaetano Manfredi as something that needing doing “regardless of 2032″.
Meanwhile, the head of Italy’s football federation (FIGC) resigned on Thursday, falling on his sword after the men’s national team failed to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup.
Gabriele Gravina revealed he would step down as the country’s top football official following a meeting held at the FIGC’s headquarters in Rome on Thursday.
Italy fell at the play-offs again on Tuesday, this time after a penalty shoot-out against Bosnia and Hercegovina and will miss this summer’s finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The shock waves of the latest humiliation for one of the world’s most important football nations forced Gravina, 72, to go back on his initial plans to wait until a FIGC board meeting next week to announce a decision on his future.
The FIGC said in a statement a vote for a new president will be held on June 22 with Giovanni Malago, the former long-time head of the Italian Olympic Committee who was president of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics organisation committee, among the names in the hat.
Gravina’s resignation also means Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso could resign, as it was Gravina who asked the 2006 World Cup winner to stay on beyond the end of his current contract which expires in the summer.
He was elected FIGC president in October 2018, becoming the permanent replacement for Carlo Tavecchio who stepped down following Italy’s first World Cup play-off defeat to Sweden the previous year.
The highlight of his reign was Italy’s thrilling triumph at Euro 2020, when an Azzurri team that under Roberto Mancini went unbeaten for 37 matches beat England at Wembley to be crowned kings of the continent.
But two World Cup qualification failures and a dismal defence of the European title left Gravina with little choice but to resign as Italy shine in other sports while being left behind in football.
Gravina also caused anger on Tuesday by referring to other sports as “amateur” and “state sports” compared to football due to the large number of athletes, particularly Olympians, who are nominally employed by different arms of Italy’s armed forces and police.
Italy claimed a record 30 medals at the recent Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, including 10 golds, and left the 2024 Summer Games in Paris with 40 medals.
The Mediterranean nation also has top performers in a wide variety of other sports, with tennis star Jannik Sinner, a four-time Grad Slam winner, the most obvious example.
– © AFP 2026
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