UEFA chief Aleksander Ceferin has warned that Italy risks not being able to cohost Euro 2032 with Turkiye due to the condition of the country’s football stadiums, which he called “some of the worst in Europe”.
“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 La 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, Milan, Genoa, Bari, Naples, Turin, Cagliari and Palermo.
Italy can present new stadiums or ones that need to be redeveloped as long as work begins 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 sale of the land is being probed for alleged bid rigging by the public prosecutors’ office in Italy’s economic capital.
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 Artemio Franchi Stadium is being redeveloped.
Last month, the city of Naples presented a renovation project for the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, where Serie A champions Napoli play their matches.
The Maradona project, which includes the elimination of the running track that borders the pitch, has a budget of 200 million euros ($230m) and was presented by Mayor Gaetano Manfredi as something that needs doing “regardless of 2032”.
The warning comes only two days after Italy missed out on a place at the World Cup for a third consecutive edition – the first former winners to hold the unwanted record.
Gennaro Gattuso’s side were beaten 4-1 on penalties by Bosnia and Herzegovina in their UEFA playoff final for a place at the 2026 edition.
DW Deutsch 
