San Siro gears up for final international event with 2026 Winter Olympics launch
One of the globe's most renowned stadiums is poised for its farewell appearance on the world stage during the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics at San Siro this Friday.
Regarded for decades as a cornerstone of football, San Siro will unveil the Milan-Cortina Games globally through a ceremony that includes an athletes parade across all four clusters of this expansive Olympics spanning a wide region of northern Italy.
However, the legendary venue faces replacement by a modern arena after a hundred years of accommodating Inter Milan and AC Milan fixtures.
In September, authorities in Italy's financial hub greenlit the sale of more than 28 hectares (70 acres) of public land, where San Siro stands, to the two teams for 197 million euros ($229.5 million).
Inter and AC Milan plan to leave the historic site once their replacement stadium is complete, aiming for readiness to host games at the 2032 European Championship, co organised by Italy and Turkey.
The Milanese powerhouses, now under American investment ownership and seen as elite in European football, intend to erect a contemporary 71,500 seat stadium just west of the existing San Siro, on land used for parking and a nearby park.
After the new venue is built, San Siro will be largely razed to create space for new green areas, offices, and leisure amenities.
The ageing stadium fails to comply with UEFA's standards for major events, leading to its exclusion from the 2027 Champions League final.
Thus, this Fridays ceremony may mark the final significant global sports occasion at a venue so cherished it earns the moniker Footballs La Scala, echoing Milan's famed opera house.
Milan icon
San Siro opened with a derby between Inter and AC Milan on 19 September 1926, and throughout the decades it has staged World Cup and European Championship games, alongside numerous Italian national team outings.
Originally under AC Milans ownership before the city acquired it in the 1930s, with Inter adopting it as home in 1947, San Siro underwent multiple upgrades, the most substantial before the 1990 World Cup.
Those renovations introduced a third level, lending the stadium its forward thinking appearance with twisting outer pillars and a bold red roof that remains visually striking after over 30 years.
Beyond football, San Siro serves as Italys top concert spot, hosting global music icons from Bob Marleys debut in 1980 through acts like the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and modern stars such as Beyonce, Taylor Swift, and Italian Grammy winners Maneskin.
The replacement stadium targets completion by late 2030 if timelines hold, though full city approval remains pending amid uncertainties, particularly with local elections approaching next year.
Local and national figures have voiced strong opposition to demolishing this Milan emblem, and in 2023 they blocked an earlier clubs proposal to develop a new venue on the site.