MILAN — One of the world's most famous stadiums, the legendary San Siro, is set for a last hurrah on the international stage with the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics on Friday.

Long considered one of the temples of soccer, the San Siro will introduce the Milano-Cortina Games to the world with a ceremony featuring an athletes' parade held in all four "clusters" of a sprawling Olympics being held across a vast area of northern Italy.

But, the iconic old ground is on course to be replaced by a shiny new arena after a century of hosting Inter Milan and AC Milan matches, as well as Italian national team fixtures.

In September the local government of Italy's economic capital approved a 197-million-euro ($229.5 million) sale of just over 28 hectares (70 acres) of public land, on which the San Siro sits, to the two clubs.

Inter and AC Milan will abandon the iconic ground once their new stadium is built, the idea being that it will be finished in time to host matches at the 2032 European Championship to be jointly held in Italy and Turkiye.

The two Milan clubs — European soccer royalty now both owned by American investment funds — are planning the construction of a modern 71,500-capacity stadium to the immediate west of the current San Siro, on an area currently occupied by match day car parking and a local park.

Once the new ground is built, the San Siro will be almost entirely demolished to make way for new parkland, office space and entertainment facilities.

The current stadium no longer meets European soccer governing body UEFA's requirements to host major events, and was denied the 2027 Champions League final.

That means Friday's ceremony will likely be the last major international sporting event hosted at a stadium which is so beloved it is nicknamed the "La Scala del Calcio" after Milan's historic opera house.

Milanese symbol

The San Siro was inaugurated with a derby match between Inter and AC Milan on Sept 19, 1926, and, over the years, it has hosted World Cup and European Championship matches, as well as dozens of fixtures for the Italian national team.

Initially owned by AC Milan before being bought by the city in the 1930s, with Inter making it its home in 1947, the San Siro has been renovated several times, with the last major works being carried out ahead of the 1990 World Cup.

That restyling, which added a third tier to the stadium, gave the San Siro a futuristic look — with spiralling external columns and a striking red roof — that still catches the eye more than three decades later.

The San Siro also doubles up as one of Italy's premier concert venues, where some of the world's biggest music stars have strutted their stuff since reggae icon Bob Marley became the first to do so in 1980.

From the Rolling Stones and David Bowie, right up to contemporary superstars Beyonce and Taylor Swift, the stadium attracts massive crowds for summertime performances from international hit makers and local favorites like Grammy-winning rock band Maneskin.

The new stadium should be built as scheduled by the end of 2030, but with the final project a long way from being approved by the city, nothing is certain, especially with local elections coming next year.

Politicians on the local and national stage have repeatedly expressed anger at the idea of knocking down such an iconic a symbol of Milan, and, in 2023, succeeded in torpedoing a previous attempt by the clubs to build a new stadium on the same site.

AFP