Malagò sets July deadline for Italy’s Euro 2032 stadiums

Italy’s Euro 2032 stadium process is approaching a decisive phase after FIGC president Giovanni Malagò said the country’s five proposed venues should be settled by July.Italy will co-host the tournament with Turkey and must identify five stadiums capable of meeting UEFA requirements, placing renewed pressure on clubs, cities and public authorities to accelerate infrastructure decisions.Malagò said: “By July the stadiums will be finished.”His comments followed talks with Italian sports minister Andrea Abodi, with the new FIGC leadership seeking to provide UEFA with greater certainty over a process that has become one of the main risks to Italy’s hosting role.Malagò said: “We have a very clear roadmap. We spoke with Minister Abodi and we are working in complete harmony.”The stadium issue is one of the most commercially important items on Malagò’s agenda after his election as FIGC president.Italy’s stadium estate has long been viewed as a constraint on club revenues, fan experience, hospitality growth and international event hosting.UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin has previously warned that Italy must modernise their football infrastructure to remain on track for Euro 2032.That warning has increased the strategic importance of projects in cities including Milan, Rome, Turin, Naples, Bari, Palermo, Bologna, Florence and Cagliari.Cagliari are seeking to use the tournament as a catalyst for their long-planned new stadium, with the Sardinian club and local authorities working to push the €218m project through its final administrative steps.The proposed venue would have a capacity of around 30,000 and include a five-star hotel, 5,000 parking spaces and facilities designed to host conferences and other non-football events.Construction is expected to take around 40 months once approvals and tender procedures are completed.That timeline gives Cagliari limited room for delay if the project is to be delivered in time for UEFA’s operational requirements ahead of 2032.The city is preparing an international public tender, with local officials aiming to complete the remaining formalities around the concession, economic plan, building rights and declaration of public interest.Cagliari mayor Massimo Zedda has argued that Euro 2032 could give the city a venue that serves a wider civic and commercial role beyond football.The project is therefore significant not only for Cagliari’s matchday revenues but also for Sardinia’s ability to position itself within Italy’s major-event infrastructure network.The competition for places remains intense because Italy can only nominate five stadiums for the tournament.That limitation means Cagliari must convince the FIGC and UEFA that their new venue can be delivered on schedule and offer sufficient strategic value compared with larger mainland cities.Malagò has described Euro 2032 as a “challenge within a challenge” for Italian football, linking stadium delivery to the wider need for institutional reform.He has also moved quickly on national-team restructuring, saying the FIGC has “Plan A, Plan B and Plan C” for the appointment of a new technical director and head coach.Those appointments are expected to form part of a broader reset after Italy’s latest World Cup failure, but Euro 2032 infrastructure remains the most pressing commercial and organisational test.The immediate next step is the selection of Italy’s preferred stadiums, with Cagliari’s prospects depending on whether the city can show that its new venue is fully deliverable inside UEFA’s timetable.