Key facts
Club: Cagliari Calcio | Capacity: 21,000 seats | Scheduled Opening: 2019 | Status: in planning
Description
Nuovo Stadio Cagliari is the planned new stadium of Cagliari that is to be constructed in place of their current Stadio Sant’Elia.
Cagliari has been looking to build a new stadium to replace the dilapidated Sant’Elia since the late 2000s. They first focused on a site near Cagliari’s Elmas Airport in the north of the city and proposed a 23,500-seater which they dubbed the Karalis Arena.
However, this project led to resistance of the local aviation authorities, and Cagliari, fed up with the lack of progress, even temporarily moved to a makeshift stadium in nearby Quartu, Stadio Is Arenas, vowing not to come back to Cagliari.
However, after a few months their new stadium failed safety checks, and they moved back to Sant’Elia after all, before making some minor refurbishments. They subsequently focused their attention on redeveloping Sant’Elia, but in the end settled on demolishing Sant’Elia and building an entire new stadium at the site.
They presented concrete plans in late 2015, and had obtained approval of the city of Cagliari by the summer of 2016. By early 2017 the club had received various further green lights, but a few bureaucratic hurdles still had to be overcome.
The club hope to start demolition of Stadio Sant’Elia at the end of the 2016-17 season, and have their new home completed before the start of the 2019-20 season. During the works the club will play at a temporary stadium at the parking lot of Sant’Elia, possibly erecting the temporary main stand of Stadio Is Arenas in combination with the temporary stands of Sant’Elia.
The new stadium will have a capacity of 21,000 seats, possibly enlarged to 24,000 seats, and come at a cost of €55 million. The club will seek to find a naming rights sponsor to help fund the stadium.
Images of Nuovo Stadio Cagliari
