San Siro

For other uses, see San Siro (disambiguation).
Stadio Giuseppe Meazza
San Siro

Location Via Piccolomini 5, 20151
Milan, Italy
Coordinates 45°28′41″N 9°07′26″E / 45.478080°N 9.12400°E / 45.478080; 9.12400Coordinates: 45°28′41″N 9°07′26″E / 45.478080°N 9.12400°E / 45.478080; 9.12400
Public transit San Siro Stadio
San Siro Ippodromo
Owner Municipality of Milan
Capacity 80,018[1]
Field size 105m x 68m
Surface Desso GrassMaster
Construction
Broke ground December 1925
Opened September 19, 1926 (1926-09-19)[2]
Renovated 1935, 1955, 1990, 2015-16
Construction cost £5 million (€1,8 million)
Architect Alberto Cugini
Ulisse Stacchini
Tenants
Milan (1926–present)
Internazionale (1947–present)

The Stadio Giuseppe Meazza (Italian pronunciation: [dʒuˈzɛppe meˈattsa]), commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadia in Europe, and the largest in Italy.

On 3 March 1980, the stadium was named in honour of Giuseppe Meazza, the two-time World Cup winner (1934, 1938) who played for Inter Milan and briefly for Milan in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.[3]

The San Siro is a UEFA category four stadium. It hosted six games at the 1990 FIFA World Cup and four European Cup finals, in 1965, 1970, 2001 and 2016.[4]

History

Construction of the stadium commenced in 1925 in the district of Milan named San Siro, with the new stadium originally named Nuovo Stadio Calcistico San Siro (San Siro New Football Stadium).[5] The idea to build a stadium in the same district as the horse racing track belongs to the man who then was the president of A.C. Milan, Piero Pirelli. The architects designed a private stadium only for football, without the athletics tracks which characterized Italian stadiums built with public funds.[6] The inauguration was on 19 September 1926, when 35,000 spectators saw Inter Milan defeat Milan 6–3. Originally, the ground was home and property of AC Milan. Finally, in 1947, Inter, who used to play in the classy Arena Civica downtown,[7] became tenants and the two have shared the ground ever since.

On 2 March 1980 the stadium was named for Giuseppe Meazza (1910–1979), one of the most famous Milanese footballer.

Apart from being used by Milan and Inter, the Italian national team also plays occasional games there. It has also been used for the 1965, 1970, 2001 and 2016 UEFA Champions League finals. The stadium was also used for Inter Milan's UEFA Cup finals when played over home and away legs but has never featured since the competition changed to a single final structure in 1997–98.

The stadium underwent further renovations for the 1990 World Cup with $60 million being spent, bringing the stadium up to UEFA category four standard. As part of the renovations, the stadium became all seated, with an extra tier being added to three sides of the stadium. This entailed the building of 11 concrete towers around the outside of the stadium. Four of these concrete towers were being located at the corners to support a new roof which has distinctive protruding red girders.

In 1996 inside the stadium was opened a museum about AC Milan and Internazionale's story with historical shirts, cups and trophies, shoes, art objects and souvenirs of all kinds.

Music events

Besides football, San Siro can be configured to hold many other events, particularly major concerts.

The first concert at the stadium was performed by Bob Marley on 27 June 1980, in front of an all-time Italian record audience of about 120,000 people, which was also a European audience record for a music concert in an enclosed venue at that time. After this event, the second singer to perform at San Siro was Bob Dylan on 24 June 1984. During the 1980s some others famous singers and international music bands performed here: Genesis and Paul Young performed at the stadium on 19 May 1987 during their Invisible Touch Tour, then on 5 June of the same year Duran Duran performed during their Strange Behaviour Tour and on 10 June even David Bowie was at San Siro during the Spider Glass Tour. Bruce Springsteen had previously performed at the stadium on 21 June 1985 during his Born in the U.S.A. Tour.

Michael Jackson performed on 18 June 1997 during his HIStory World Tour in front of a crowd of about 70,000 people. This concert was the first and only Jackson solo performance in Milan. On 10 June 2003 The Rolling Stones performed on 10 June 2003 during their Licks Tour and on 8 June 2004 came to San Siro Red Hot Chili Peppers during their Roll on the Red Tour.

U2 performed at the stadium four times: the first and the second were on 20 and 21 July 2005 during their Vertigo Tour, in front of a total sold out crowd of 137,427 people. The third and the fourth were on 7 and 8 July 2009 during their U2 360° Tour, in front of a total sold out crowd of 153,806 people. Part of the 2005 shows were recorded for the group's live album U2.COMmunication. Part of the second 2005 show was also filmed for the group's concert film Vertigo 05: Live from Milan. The performances of "Breathe" and "Electrical Storm" from the second 2009 show were recorded for the group's live album From the Ground Up: Edge's Picks from U2360°.

In 2006, Robbie Williams performed in front of a crowd of about 70,000 people during his Close Encounters Tour. He performed at San Siro again on 31 July 2013 as part of his Take The Crown Tour

On 2 June 2007, Italian singer Laura Pausini was the first woman ever to sing at the stadium, breaking all records for sold-out concerts. The performance was later released as the live album San Siro 2007. Two years later, on 21 June 2009, following the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, Pausini organized a concert in which she and 42 more singers (all women) performed to raise money for charity institutions in the L'Aquila area. This concert was later released on the DVD "Amiche per l'Abruzzo".[10] She returns with Pausini Stadi Tour 2016.[8]

Madonna performed to a sold out crowd of 55,338 people on 14 July 2009 during her Sticky & Sweet Tour and again in front of 53,244 people on 14 June 2012 as part of her MDNA Tour.

Muse performed on 8 June 2010 during their Resistance Tour in front of a crowd of 62,000 people., while in 2011 Take That performed a show during their Progress Live tour. Bon Jovi performed at the stadium on 29 June 2013 during their Because We Can, in front of a sold out crowd of 51,531 people. One Direction, performed on 28 and 29 June 2014 during their Where We Are, in front of a sold out crowd. Both shows were recorded for the group's second movie "One Direction: Where We Are - The Concert Film".

International football matches

1934 FIFA World Cup

The stadium was one of the biggest venues of the 1934 FIFA World Cup and held three matches.

Date Team #1 Result Team #2 Round
27 May 1934  Switzerland
3-2
 Netherlands
First Round
31 May 1934 Germany
2-1
 Sweden
Quarter-finals
3 June 1934 Italy
1–0
 Austria
Semi-finals

UEFA Euro 1980

The stadium was one of the four selected to host the matches during the UEFA Euro 1980.

Date Team #1 Result Team #2 Round
12 June 1980 Spain
0-0
 Italy
Group B
15 June 1980 Belgium
2-1
 Spain
Group B
17 June 1980 Netherlands
1-1
 Czechoslovakia
Group A

1990 FIFA World Cup

The stadium was one of the venues of the 1990 FIFA World Cup and held six matches. The first was a Group B match between Argentina and Cameroon who stunned Argentina 1 - 0. The other matches involved Germany. All their Group D matches (a 4 - 1 win over Yugoslavia on June 10, a 5 - 1 win over the United Arab Emirates on June 15 and a 1 - 1 draw with Colombia on June 19), their Round of 16 match against the Netherlands winning 2 - 1 on June 24 and their Quarter-finals against Czechoslovakia winning 1 - 0 on July 1.

Other sports

Boxing

San Siro was the venue for the boxing match between Duilio Loi vs. Carlos Ortiz for the Junior Welterweight title in 1960.

Rugby union

The first and only top level rugby union match was a test match between Italy and New Zealand in November 2009. A crowd of 80,000 watched the event, a record for Italian rugby.

Year Date Match Country Score Country Attendance
2009 14 November non-cap Italy  6-20 New Zealand  80,000

Transport connections

The stadium is located in the northwestern part of Milan and can be reached by underground via the dedicated San Siro metro station (at the end of the "lilac" line 5), located just in front of the stadium,[11] or by tram, with line 16 ending right in front. The Lotto metro station (line 1, the "red line", and line 5) is about 15 minutes walk away from San Siro.

Stations near by:

Service Station Line
Milan Metro San Siro Stadio
San Siro Ippodromo
Lotto

Panorama

Panorama of the stadium

References

  1. ↑ http://www.sansiro.net/?page_id=195
  2. ↑ http://www.worldofstadiums.com/europe/italy/stadio-giuseppe-meazza/
  3. ↑ The history of the San Siro stadium. AC Milan.com. (accessed 18 October 2011)
  4. ↑ "Milan to host 2016 UEFA Champions League final". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  5. ↑ "Almanacco Illustrato del Milan", Panini, Modena (it.)
  6. ↑ The architectural structure of San Siro was shared in Italy with Marassi that, as private home ground of Genoa CFC, hadn't athletics track.
  7. ↑ http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2006/settembre/16/San_Siro_calcio_ottant_anni_co_7_060916003.shtml
  8. 1 2 Boxscore 2016
  9. ↑ "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. August 9, 2016. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  10. ↑ Amiche per l'Abruzzo
  11. ↑ http://footballtripper.com/san-siro-stadium-guide

External links

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