Italian Serie A football club Fiorentina has revealed details of its proposed new stadium, which could be open by 2021.
The 40,000-capacity ground will cost €420m (£367m/$448m) and will replace the Stadio Artemio Franchi (pictured) as the club’s home.
The stadium will serve as the hub of a wide-ranging development that will also include a shopping centre, hotel and transport links to Florence. The ground will be located in a northwestern suburb of the city.
Work is expected to begin in 2019, and it is hoped Fiorentina will be able to begin playing there by 2021.
“It’s a historic moment,” Fiorentina owner Andrea Della Valle said, according to the Associated Press news agency. “We’re presenting an important project for Florence and for all of Italy. It will be a sort of Purple Renaissance.
“We are resolving the last small problems. I imagine that we’ll need four years to finish everything.”
Fiorentina would become the fourth Serie A club to own its stadium, after Juventus, Sassuolo and Udinese.
The announcement comes after Roma was last month finally given the green light to press ahead with its plans to develop its new stadium, which prompted the club’s cross-city rival, Lazio, to express its wish for its own ground.
Della Valle said it is encouraging that so many Italian clubs are looking to build their own grounds. “Many clubs are trying and that’s a good thing,” he said.
“We’re one of them and we’re moving forward quickly. People are talking about Roma’s new stadium. We’re even further ahead and this is a great opportunity for change for Italian football, which is very behind in this aspect. Between the stadium and the surrounding area, it’s a project of hundreds and hundreds of millions. We really wanted to do something for this city, which deserves it.”
Fiorentina has played at the Stadio Artemio Franchi since it opened in 1931.
Meanwhile, another Serie A club, Cagliari, has presented its plans for a new 16,200-capacity stadium, with work set to commence within a month. The stadium will be built on the site of Cagliari’s current home ground, the Stadio Sant’Elia.
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