Inter Milan and AC Milan unveil plans for €1.2bn Generali Stadium

Inter Milan and AC Milan have unveiled plans for a new 71,500-capacity stadium, with the iconic San Siro set to be largely demolished as part of a €1.2bn redevelopment project.

The Generali Stadium is scheduled to open in time for the 2031/32 season and will replace the 75,000-capacity venue that has been central to Milanese football for a century.

The clubs paid €197m ($219m) for the existing stadium and the surrounding land. Construction is due to begin in 2028.

Stadium designed to recreate San Siro atmosphere

The new ground has been designed by Norman Foster and David Manica, the architects behind the rebuilt Wembley Stadium in London.

Its stands will be built close to the pitch, with the sections behind each goal rising at an incline of 37 degrees. Foster said the stadium would sit “low in the body, and it rises up at either end”.

Manica said the design had been guided by the atmosphere of the existing venue rather than simply its physical structure.

“The most important thing that we realised when we designed this project is that the San Siro is a feeling,” he said at the launch in Milan. “It’s more than a building, it’s a feeling, and everything that we needed to do here was to carry it into the [new] building.

“We brought all the seats as close as possible to the field. They could not be any closer, it’ll actually feel as though you’re sitting on the grass.”

The roof canopy will also be designed to contain and intensify the noise created by supporters, echoing the enclosed atmosphere that helped make the Giuseppe Meazza famous.

The stadium, which is sponsored by Italian insurance company Generali, is intended to host more than football. Concerts, rugby and American football fixtures are also planned.

“I want the crowd to come to the new stadium and to feel that excitement that they felt before, and to feel the building, living and breathing with them as it does currently,” Manica added.

San Siro’s century of sporting history

The existing stadium opened in September 1926, when Inter beat Milan in a derby. The municipality bought the ground in 1935, and both clubs agreed to share it in 1947.

It was officially renamed Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in 1980, in honour of the forward who won two World Cups with Italy and played for both Milan clubs.

San Siro hosted a semi-final during Italy’s successful 1934 World Cup campaign, matches at Euro 1980 and games at Italia ’90. That tournament featured the stadium’s distinctive cylindrical concrete towers and red-girder roof, and began with Cameroon’s shock victory over Diego Maradona’s Argentina.

The venue has hosted four European Cup or Champions League finals. Helenio Herrera’s “Grande Inter” beat Benfica there in 1965, while Feyenoord won in 1970, Bayern Munich triumphed on penalties in 2001 and Real Madrid defeated Atletico in 2016.

The stadium has also staged major events outside football, including Duilio Loi’s 1960 world championship boxing bout, watched by 53,000 people, and Bob Marley’s 1980 concert, which attracted 100,000 spectators.