STADIO CAGLIARI Cagliari, Italy
agliari Calcio has been planning to build a new stadium for quite some time, with the plan being to build a new ground next to the temporary Sardegna Arena - where the Serie A side currently play its home games. Earlier this year, the Italian football club presented three visions for the new stadium to its fans. A conference saw those bidding to design the venue deliver their ideas, with the main brief being to deliver a 25,000-seat stadium that could be expanded to 30,000 in the long term. There had to be commercial areas, too, as well as leisure spaces for supporters, residents and corporate clients. Following 5,000 people coming to see the potential plans, Cagliari Calcio identified Sportium as the preferred bidder for the design of its new home. Sportium encloses partners Progetto CMR, iDeas, B&L Real Estate and Manica Architecture, belonging to the American David Manica, archistar who has worked on projects of impressive stadiums and arenas all over the world. The plans submitted to Cagliari Calcio by Sportium was conventional in terms of urban planning - with the design by Manica Architecture of the Sportium consortium welcoming all fans from street level. The surrounding area of the stadium in the design would be occupied by parking for visiting fans, however, a public green area of a significant size is also planned behind the east side of the stadium. The design also sees no additional buildings around the stadium, which means that the ground itself would hold all the required facilities that were
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specified by the club. This means that hotel rooms are placed above a corner section and, quite impressively, an open hospitality deck is incorporated in the plans, with a swimming pool overlooking the sea. Now, with one eye on Italy’s potential bid to host the Euro 2028 football tournament, Cagliari Calcio has confirmed that it intends to eventually increase the capacity of the new stadium to 30,000 seats, allowing it to become a potential host city for the tournament. As mentioned, the designs from Sportium were based on a 25,000-seat venue, but with the extra 5,000 seats, the final size of 30,000 sees it hit the minimum criteria for Euro games. The expansion will not happen straightaway, though, with the expansion planned for a later development. The bidding process for Euro 2028 is yet to begin, although it is thought that Italy and England are two of the most likely to be involved. Following necessary approvals and completion of executive design, the stadium should go under construction in 2019 with the venue likely to open in 2021. The 60 million Euros stadium will be carried out by Progetto CMR, iDeas, B&L Real Estate and Manica Architecture. Cagliari Calcio and the city of Cagliari will contribute 10 million Euros each, remainder will be financed privately and from available loans / investment funds.
