Abodi: €4.5 billion EURO 2032 investment will transform Italian football

Minister for Sport Andrea Abodi assures Italy co-hosting EURO 2032 will help ‘change the face of Italian football’ including €4.5 billion in private investment for infrastructure.

Too many Italian stadiums are still patching up and adding to the basic structures that were put in place when hosting the 1990 World Cup.

epa10911065 The UEFA Euro trophy is pictured after Italy and Turkey were elected to host the Euro 2032 fooball tournament during the UEFA EURO 2028 and 2032 hosts announcement ceremony at UEFA Headquarters, in Nyon, Switzerland, 10 October 2023. EPA-EFE/JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BOTT It is therefore hoped that co-hosting duties with Turkiye for the 2032 European Championship can help set deadlines forcing the authorities to make a genuine push for modern arenas.

Today it was confirmed that 13 cities and 16 stadiums are candidates for what will eventually be five Italian cities hosting the tournament, but many of those – including two in Rome – are still at the planning and permission stages.

Abodi confident stadium projects will flourish CESENA, ITALY – MAY 24:Andrea Abodi during the Women Supercup match betweeen AS Roma and ACF Fiorentina at Dino Manuzzi Stadium on May 24, 2024 in Cesena, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images) “As I have said over the last three and a half years, what’s happening with our stadiums has never been seen before in the history of our country,” declared Minister for Sport and Youth Abodi.

“There are 13 cities, 16 projects, and €4.5 billion in private investment.”

The Government has been working with the FIGC to streamline the often impossible red tape around getting new stadium projects built, including the appointment of a specific commissioner for arenas.

ROME, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 21: General view outside the stadium prior to the Serie A match between SS Lazio and AS Roma at Stadio Olimpico on September 21, 2025 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images) “The objective is to reach EURO 2032 with stadiums that are modern, welcoming, functional, accessible and sustainable, improving the cities that host them,” added Abodi.

“In October, the FIGC will present the final candidates, including reserves, to UEFA, who will decide which stadiums will host the European spectacle.

“This will change the face of Italian football, and the Government headed by Giorgia Meloni can be recognised as promoting, co-ordinating and contributing, along with others, to the process of epoch-making transformation that Italian football needed.”

ZENICA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA – MARCH 31: (L-R) Italy Minister of Sport Andrea Abodi, President of CONI Luciano Buonfiglio and President of FIGC Gabriele Gravina look on prior the FIFA World Cup 2026 European Qualifiers KO play-offs match between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Italy at Stadion Bilino Polje on March 31, 2026 in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Photo by Getty Images/Getty Images) More details are emerging on the list of 13 host cities presented, which oddly do not include Bergamo and Udine, who had two of the most modern and well-prepared stadiums already.

The list of 16 stadiums includes three candidates in Rome, even though right now only one of those arenas exist and the other two don’t even have planning permission yet.

The Cagliari stadium is again yet to be built, along with the one that Inter and Milan are working on to replace San Siro.

Palermo could be a strong candidate for Abodi, as the club is owned by the same company that runs Manchester City, and is eager to revamp their infrastructure.

EURO 2032 host stadium candidates

Bari (Stadio San Nicola), Bologna (Stadio Dall’Ara), Cagliari (New Stadium), Florence (Stadio Franchi), Genoa (Stadio Ferraris), Lecce (Stadio Giardiniero), Milan (New Stadium), Naples (Stadio Maradona), Palermo (Stadio Barbera), Rome (Stadio Olimpico, New Roma Stadium, Stadio Flaminio), Salerno (Stadio Arechi), Turin (Juventus Stadium), Verona (Stadio Bentegodi)