San Siro

The San Siro, officially known as Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, which is the home of AC Milan and Internazionale. It has a seating capacity of 75,923, making it one of the largest stadiums in Europe, and the largest in Italy.

This article is about the football stadium in Milan. For other uses, see San Siro (disambiguation).

San Siro

Stadio Giuseppe Meazza
UEFA
Former names	Stadio Comunale di San Siro
Address	Via Piccolomini, 5, 20151
Location	Milan, Italy
Coordinates	45.478080°N 9.12400°E / 45.478080; 9.12400
Public transit	San Siro Stadio San Siro Ippodromo
Owner	A.C. Milan (1926–1935) Municipality of Milan (1935–present)
Operator	M-I Stadio s.r.l.
Executive suites	30[1]
Capacity	75,923[2] (limited capacity) 78,275[3] (maximum)
Field size	105m × 68m
Surface	GrassMaster hybrid grass
Scoreboard	Tecnovision
Construction
Broke ground	December 1925
Opened	19 September 1926 (1926-09-19)
Renovated	1935, 1955, 1987–1990, 2015–2016
Architect	Cugini, Stacchini (1925) Perlasca, Bertera (1935) Ronca, Calzolari (1955) Ragazzi, Hoffer, Finzi (1990)
Tenants
AC Milan (1926–1941 and 1947–present) FC Internazionale (1947–present) Italy national football team (selected matches) Atalanta B.C. (UEFA competition matches)

On 3 March 1980, the stadium was named in honour of Giuseppe Meazza, the two-time World Cup winner (1934, 1938) who played for Inter and briefly for Milan in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s[4] and served two stints as Inter's manager.

San Siro is a UEFA category four stadium. It hosted three games at the 1934 FIFA World Cup, six games at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, three games at the UEFA Euro 1980, and four European Cup finals, in 1965, 1970, 2001 and 2016.[5] The stadium will also host the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo.

History

The choreography of A. C. Milan's fans during a Derby della Madonnina.

View of the stadium at night.

The choreography of Inter Milan's fans during a Derby della Madonnina.

Construction of the stadium commenced in 1925 in the district of Milan named San Siro, with the new stadium originally named Nuovo Stadio Calcistico San Siro (San Siro New Football Stadium).[6] The idea to build a stadium in the same district as the horse racing track belonged to the president of A.C. Milan at the time, Piero Pirelli. The architects designed a private stadium only for football, without athletics tracks which characterized Italian stadiums built with public funds.[7] The inauguration was on 19 September 1926, when 35,000 spectators saw Inter defeat Milan 6–3. Originally, the ground was home and property of A.C. Milan. Finally, in 1947, Inter, who used to play in the Arena Civica downtown,[8] became tenants and the two have shared the ground ever since.

From 1948 to 1955, engineers Armando Ronca and Ferruccio Calzolari developed the project for the second extension of the stadium, which was meant to increase the capacity from 50,000 to 150,000 visitors. Calzolari and Ronca proposed three additional, vertically arranged, rings of spectator rows. Nineteen spiralling ramps – each 200 metres long – gave access to the upper tiers. During construction, the realisation of the highest of the three rings was abandoned and the number of visitors limited to 100,000.[9] Then for security reasons, the capacity was reduced to 60,000 seats and 25,000 standing.

On 2 March 1980 the stadium was named for Giuseppe Meazza (1910–1979), one of the most famous Milanese footballers. For a time, Inter fans called the stadium Stadio Meazza due to Meazza's stronger connections with Inter (14 years as a player, three stints as manager). However, in recent years both Inter and Milan fans have called the stadium simply San Siro.

The last major renovation for San Siro, which cost $60 million, was that of 1987-1990, for the 1990 FIFA World Cup. It was decided to modernize the stadium by increasing its capacity to 85,000 spectators and building a cover. The Municipality of Milan entrusted the work to the architects Giancarlo Ragazzi and Enrico Hoffer and to the engineer Leo Finzi. To increase capacity, a third ring was built (only in the two curves and in the west grandstand) which rests on eleven support towers surrounded by helical ramps that allow access to the public. Four of these eleven concrete towers were located at the corners to support a new roof, which has distinctive protruding red girders.

In 1996 a museum was opened inside the stadium charting A. C. Milan and Inter's story, with historical shirts, cups and trophies, shoes, art objects and souvenirs of all kinds on display to visitors.

Two Milan derby Champions League knockout ties have taken place at San Siro, in 2003 and 2005, with A.C. Milan winning both ties.[10] The reaction of Inter's fans to impending defeat in the 2005 match (throwing flares and other objects at Milan players and forcing the match to be abandoned)[11] earned the club a large fine and a four-game ban on spectators attending European fixtures there the following season.[12][13][14]

Apart from being used by Milan and Inter, the Italian national team occasionally plays games there.[15] It has also been used for the European Cup finals of 1965 (won by Inter), 1970 (won by Feyenoord), and the UEFA Champions League finals of 2001 (won by FC Bayern Munich) and 2016 (won by Real Madrid).[5][16]

The stadium was also used for the home leg of three UEFA Cup finals in which Inter was competing (1991, 1994, 1997) when these were played over two legs. It was also used by Juventus for their 'home' leg in 1995 as they decided against playing their biggest matches at their own Stadio delle Alpi at the time.[17][18][19] On each occasion, apart from 1991, the second leg was played at San Siro and the winners lifted the trophy there. However, the stadium has not yet been selected as the host stadium since the competition changed to a single-match final format in 1997–98.

San Siro has never hosted a final of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, but was the host stadium for the 1951 Latin Cup, a four-team event won by A.C. Milan. The city was also the venue for the 1956 edition of the Latin Cup (also won by Milan), but those matches were played at Arena Civica.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, on March 25, the Associated Press dubbed the UEFA Champions League match between Bergamo club Atalanta B.C. and Spanish club Valencia at the San Siro on 19 February as "Game Zero". The match was the first time Atalanta has progressed to a Champions League round of 16 match, and had an attendance of over 40,000 people—about one third of Bergamo's population. By March 24, almost 7,000 people in the province of Bergamo had tested positive for COVID-19, and more than 1,000 people had died from the virus—making Bergamo the most hard-hit province in all of Italy during the pandemic.[20]

Potential replacement

On June 24, 2019, AC Milan and Internazionale announced their intention to build a new stadium to replace the San Siro. The new 60,000 capacity stadium, which would be constructed next to the San Siro, is anticipated to cost US$800 million and would be ready for the 2022–23 season. The design of the new stadium is said to be based upon the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.[21]

Giuseppe Sala, the current Mayor of Milan, and the comune of Milan asked for time and stressed that the San Siro would be kept until at least the 2026 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics to be held in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo.[22][23] The proposed project was also met with some skepticism and opposition by several fans of both teams.[24]

On 26 September 2019, A. C. Milan and Internazionale released two potential designs for the new stadium next to the original ground, tentatively named the Nuovo Stadio Milano, designed by Populous and MANICA, respectively.[25][26] On 22 May 2020, Italy's heritage authority raised no objections to demolishing San Siro.[27]

International football matches

1934 FIFA World Cup

The stadium was one of the biggest venues of the 1934 FIFA World Cup and held three matches.

Date	Team #1	Result	Team #2	Round
27 May 1934	Switzerland	3–2	Netherlands	First Round
31 May 1934	Germany	2–1	Sweden	Quarter-finals
3 June 1934	Italy	1–0	Austria	Semi-finals

UEFA Euro 1980

The stadium was one of the four selected to host the matches during the UEFA Euro 1980.

Date	Team #1	Result	Team #2	Round
12 June 1980	Spain	0–0	Italy	Group B
15 June 1980	Belgium	2–1	Spain	Group B
17 June 1980	Netherlands	1–1	Czechoslovakia	Group A

1990 FIFA World Cup

The stadium was one of the venues of the 1990 FIFA World Cup and held six matches.

Date	Team #1	Result	Team #2	Round
8 June 1990	Argentina	0–1	Cameroon	Group B (opening match)
10 June 1990	West Germany	4–1	Yugoslavia	Group D
15 June 1990	West Germany	5–1	United Arab Emirates	Group D
19 June 1990	West Germany	1–1	Colombia	Group D
24 June 1990	West Germany	2–1	Netherlands	Round of 16
1 July 1990	Czechoslovakia	0–1	West Germany	Quarter final

Other sports

Boxing

San Siro was the venue for the boxing match between Duilio Loi vs. Carlos Ortiz for the Junior Welterweight title in 1960.

Rugby union

The first and only top level rugby union match to be played at San Siro was a test match between Italy and New Zealand in November 2009. A crowd of 80,000 watched the event, a record for Italian rugby.

Year	Date	Match	Country	Score	Country	Attendance
2009	14 November	non-cap	Italy	6–20	New Zealand	80,000

Concerts

Besides football, San Siro can be configured to hold many other events, particularly major concerts.

Concert of Vasco Rossi in 2007.

Date	Performer(s)	Opening act(s)	Tour/Event	Attendance	Notes
27 June 1980	Bob Marley & The Wailers	Pino Daniele	Uprising Tour
15 July 1980	Various artists		La Carovana del Mediterraneo
19 July 1980	Edoardo Bennato		Sono Solo Canzonette
29 June 1984	Bob Dylan	Santana Pino Daniele	Bob Dylan 1984 European Tour
21 June 1985	Bruce Springsteen		Born in the U.S.A. Tour	65,000
13 July 1986	Various artists		Milano Suono Festival 1986
16 July 1986
17 July 1986
18 July 1986
19 July 1986
20 June 1986
15 May 1987	Genesis	Paul Young	Invisible Touch Tour
5 June 1987	Duran Duran		Strange Behaviour Tour
10 June 1987	David Bowie		Glass Spider Tour	70,000
10 July 1990	Vasco Rossi	Ladri di Biciclette Casino Royale	Fronte del Palco Tour 1990
28 May 1992	Antonello Venditti		Alta marea Tour
4 July 1994	Al Bano Romina Power
7 July 1995	Vasco Rossi		Rock Sotto Assedio
8 July 1995
15 June 1996			Nessun Pericolo Per Te Tour
18 June 1997	Michael Jackson	B-Nario Paola e Chiara	HIStory World Tour	65,000
28 June 1997	Ligabue		Il Bar Mario è Aperto
29 June 1997
22 May 1998	Eros Ramazzotti		Eros World Tour
9 July 1998	Claudio Baglioni		Da me a te
5 July 2002	Ligabue		Fuori Come Va Tour
6 July 2002
10 June 2003	The Rolling Stones	The Cranberries	Licks Tour
28 June 2003	Bruce Springsteen		The Rising Tour
1 July 2003	Claudio Baglioni		Tutto in un abbraccio
4 July 2003	Vasco Rossi		Vasco @ S.Siro 03
5 July 2003		Irene Grandi
8 July 2003		Anouk
29 May 2004	Renato Zero		Cattura il sogno
8 June 2004	Red Hot Chili Peppers	The Roots	Roll on the Red Tour
12 June 2004	Vasco Rossi	Simone Tomassini	Buoni o Cattivi Tour 2004
13 June 2004
20 July 2005	U2	Ash Feeder	Vertigo Tour	137,427	Parts of the concerts were filmed and recorded for the group's live album and concert film U2.COMmunication and Vertigo 05: Live from Milan respectively.
21 July 2005
27 May 2006	Ligabue		Nome e Cognome Tour
11 July 2006	The Rolling Stones	Bo Diddley Feeder	A Bigger Bang	56,175
22 July 2006	Robbie Williams		Close Encounters Tour
2 June 2007	Laura Pausini		Io Canto Tour
9 June 2007	Renato Zero		MpZero
21 June 2007	Vasco Rossi		Vasco Live 2007
22 June 2007
30 June 2007	Biagio Antonacci	Nomadi	Vicky Love Tour
31 May 2008	Negramaro		La Finestra Tour
6 June 2008	Vasco Rossi		Il Mondo Che Vorrei Live Tour 2008
7 June 2008
14 June 2008	Zucchero		All the Best
25 June 2008	Bruce Springsteen		Magic Tour	59,821
4 July 2008	Ligabue		Elle-Elle Live 2008
5 July 2008
18 June 2009	Depeche Mode	Dolcenera M83	Tour of the Universe	57,544	The concert was recorded for the group's live album project Recording the Universe.
21 June 2009	Various artists		Amiche per l'Abruzzo
7 July 2009	U2	Snow Patrol	U2 360° Tour	153,806
8 July 2009					The performances of Breathe and Electrical Storm were recorded for the group's live album From the Ground Up: Edge's Picks from U2360°.
14 July 2009	Madonna		Sticky & Sweet Tour	55,338
8 June 2010	Muse	Calibro 35 Friendly Fires Kasabian	The Resistance Tour	60,000
16 July 2010	Ligabue	Margot	Arrivederci Mostro
17 July 2010
16 June 2011	Vasco Rossi		Vasco Live Kom '011
17 June 2011
21 June 2011
22 June 2011
12 July 2011	Take That	Pet Shop Boys	Progress Live
7 June 2012	Bruce Springsteen		Wrecking Ball World Tour	57,149
14 June 2012	Madonna	Martin Solveig	The MDNA Tour	53,244
3 June 2013	Bruce Springsteen		Wrecking Ball World Tour	56,670
19 June 2013	Jovanotti		Backup Tour
20 June 2013
29 June 2013	Bon Jovi		Because We Can	51,531
13 July 2013	Negramaro		Una storia semplice Tour 2013
18 July 2013	Depeche Mode	Motel Connection Chvrches	The Delta Machine Tour	57,919
31 July 2013	Robbie Williams	Olly Murs	Take The Crown Stadium Tour
31 May 2014	Biagio Antonacci		Palco Antonacci 2014
6 June 2014	Ligabue		Mondovisione Tour: Stadi 2014
7 June 2014
20 June 2014	Pearl Jam		Lightning Bolt Tour
28 June 2014	One Direction	5 Seconds of Summer	Where We Are Tour	115,931	The concerts were recorded for the group's concert film One Direction: Where We Are - The Concert Film.
29 June 2014
4 July 2014	Vasco Rossi		Vasco Live Kom '014
5 July 2014
9 July 2014
10 July 2014
19 July 2014	Modà		Stadi Tour 2014
17 June 2015	Vasco Rossi		Vasco Live Kom '015
18 June 2015
25 June 2015	Jovanotti		Lorenzo Negli Stadi 2015
26 June 2015
27 June 2015
4 July 2015	Tiziano Ferro		Lo stadio Tour 2015
5 July 2015
4 June 2016	Laura Pausini		Simili Tour	100,388
5 June 2016
10 June 2016	Pooh		L'ultima notte insieme
11 June 2016
18 June 2016	Modà		Passione Maledetta Tour 2016
19 June 2016
3 July 2016	Bruce Springsteen		The River Tour 2016	104,646
5 July 2016
13 July 2016	Rihanna	Big Sean DJ Mustard	Anti World Tour	53,000
18 July 2016	Beyoncé	Chloe x Halle Sophie Beem	The Formation World Tour	54,313
9 June 2017	Davide Van De Sfroos
16 June 2017	Tiziano Ferro		Il Mestiere della Vita Tour
17 June 2017
19 June 2017
27 June 2017	Depeche Mode	Algiers	Global Spirit Tour	54,488
3 July 2017	Coldplay	Lyves, Tove Lo	A Head Full of Dreams Tour	117,307
4 July 2017		Tove Lo
1 June 2018	J-Ax & Fedez		La Finale	79,500
20 June 2018	Cesare Cremonini		Cremonini Stadi 2018	56,963
27 June 2018	Negramaro		Amore Che Torni Tour Stadi 2018
6 July 2018	Beyoncé Jay-Z		On the Run II Tour	49,051
1 June 2019	Vasco Rossi		Vasco Non Stop Tour 2019
2 June 2019
6 June 2019
7 June 2019
11 June 2019
12 June 2019
19 June 2019	Ed Sheeran		÷ Tour
28 June 2019	Luciano Ligabue		Start Tour
4 July 2019	Laura Pausini e Biagio Antonacci		Laura Biagio Stadi Tour 2019
5 July 2019
12 July 2019	Muse		Simulation Theory World Tour
13 July 2019
Postponed until a later date due to COVID-19 pandemic	Tiziano Ferro		TZN Tour 2020
	Salmo		Salmo San Siro
	Ultimo		Ultimo Stadi 2020
	Cesare Cremonini		Cesare Cremonini Tour 2020
	Max Pezzali		San Siro canta Max

Transport connections

The stadium is located in the northwestern part of Milan and can be reached by underground via the dedicated San Siro subway station (at the end of line M5), located just in front of the stadium,[28] or by tram, with line 16 ending right in front of the building. The Lotto subway station (line M1 and line M5) is about 15 minutes walk away from San Siro.

Stations nearby:

Service	Station	Line
Milan Metro	San Siro Stadio
	San Siro Ippodromo
	Lotto

Panorama of the stadium.

References

2. https://www.sansirostadium.com/en/stadium/Structure
3. https://milano.repubblica.it/cronaca/2019/08/01/news/san_siro_stadio_vibrazioni_sei_settori_chiusi_milano-232550036/
4. The history of the San Siro stadium. AC Milan.com. (accessed 18 October 2011)
5. "Milan to host 2016 UEFA Champions League final". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
6. Almanacco Illustrato del Milan, Panini, Modena (it.)
7. The architectural structure of San Siro was shared in Italy with Marassi which, due to being the private home ground of Genoa CFC, also had no athletics track.
8. http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2006/settembre/16/San_Siro_calcio_ottant_anni_co_7_060916003.shtml
9. Werner, Feiersinger. Armando Ronca Architektur der Moderne in Südtirol 1935–1970. Kunst Meran, Kunst, Kofler, Andreas, Schmidt, Magdalene, Stabenow, Jörg, Kofler, Andreas, Martignoni, Massimo. Zürich. ISBN 9783038600619. OCLC 988179618.
10. #TBT: 5 European clashes against Italian sides, A.C. Milan, 30 November 2017
11. "Milan move into last four". UEFA. 13 April 2005. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
12. "Inter handed stadium ban and fine". BBC Sport. 15 April 2005. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
13. "Pari senza emozioni nello stadio vuoto ma l'Inter conquista la Champions" [Passionless draw in the empty stadium but Inter achieves the Champions] (in Italian). La Repubblica. 24 August 2005. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
14. "Inter 1—0 Rangers". BBC Sport. 28 September 2005. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
15. "Italy 2—0 Scotland". BBC News. 26 March 2005. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
16. "San Siro's previous four European Cup finals". UEFA. 20 January 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
17. Hughes, Rob (5 April 1995). "Will a Spoonful of Sugar Make a Bad Boy Nice?". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
18. "Il passato e' oggi: a San Siro Juventus-Borussia" [Today in the past: Juventus-Borussia at San Siro] (in Italian). Mediaset. 4 April 2010. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
19. Juventus: A History in Black and White, Adam Digby, 2015, 9781783016914
20. Dampf, Andrew, Azzoni, Tales (25 March 2020). "Game Zero: Spread of virus linked to Champions League match". Associated Press.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
21. The Legendary San Siro Stadium Is Getting Demolished. Sport Bible. Published June 24, 2019.
22. Inter e Milan insieme per un nuovo stadio, ma Sala frena: "San Siro non si tocca". Gazzetta del Sud (in Italian). Published June 24, 2019.
23. Sala: "San Siro? Sarà funzionante nel 2026. Fine della storia". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). Published June 24, 2019.
24. Demolizione di San Siro, 'no' bipartisan a Milan e Inter. Il Giorno (in Italian). Published June 25, 2019.
25. https://www.nuovostadiomilano.com/en
26. "AC Milan & Inter Milan reveal new stadium plans". BBC Sport. 26 September 2019.
27. "AC Milan and Inter Milan's San Siro 'can be demolished' for new 60,000 stadium, says Italy's heritage authority". BBC Sport. 22 May 2020.

External links

• Official website (in Italian and English)
• AC Milan website
• FC Internazionale Milano website
• San Siro on Facebook
• Stadium Guide Article

Preceded by Praterstadion Vienna	European Cup Final venue 1965	Succeeded by Heysel Stadium Brussels
Preceded by Santiago Bernabéu Madrid	European Cup Final venue 1970	Succeeded by Wembley Stadium London
Preceded by Estadio Azteca Mexico City	FIFA World Cup Opening venue 1990	Succeeded by Soldier Field Chicago
Preceded by Stade de France Saint-Denis	UEFA Champions League Final venue 2001	Succeeded by Hampden Park Glasgow
Preceded by Olympiastadion Berlin	UEFA Champions League Final venue 2016	Succeeded by Millennium Stadium Cardiff
Preceded by Beijing National Stadium Beijing	Winter Olympics Opening ceremony 2026	Succeeded by TBA