Milan’s football supporters face the replacement of San Siro, the country’s largest sports stadium, with a €1.2bn new home for AC Milan and Inter Milan.
The two clubs first announced plans for a replacement in 2019. Their earlier Cathedral proposal by Populous was blocked by the Regional Commission for the Cultural Heritage of Lombardy in 2023, before Milan’s city council approved the sale of San Siro and its adjacent parking areas to the clubs for €197m in October 2025.
At a gala event at Milan’s Castello Sforzesco on Thursday, Foster + Partners and Manica presented the design for the Generali Stadium, which is intended to replace the shared ground from the 2031-32 season.
The proposal prompted an immediate display of resistance from some Inter supporters in the castle courtyard. They unfurled a banner reading: “You will never extinguish the lights at San Siro” and chanted: “Hands off San Siro.”
San Siro opened in 1926. For the architects chosen to devise its successor, the task has been to preserve the force of the matchday experience while changing the building around it.
“The most important thing that we realised when we designed this project is that San Siro is a feeling. It's more than a building, it's a feeling … we brought all the seats as close as possible to the field. They could not be any closer, it'll actually feel as though you're sitting on the grass,” David Manica said.
Manica said: “It is always a challenge to design a building that replaces a beloved project.” He added: “The soul of this project is really the two curvas.”
Norman Foster said the design was “low in the body and rises up at either end”, describing that form as a response to supporters.
The 71,500-seat stadium will take the place of the current 75,000-capacity venue.
Its oval structure is framed by 80 large diamond forms beneath a sweeping double-curved roof. The points at either end, behind the goals, will reach 60 metres, while the wider structural facade is formed from elongated X-framed concrete supports.
The building is planned to sit on a podium, with parking, a museum and club shops beneath it. Its roof will include 27,500 square metres of photovoltaic panels.
The clubs plan an all-electric stadium that is carbon-neutral in operation and is targeting LEED Gold Certification.
Generali has secured the stadium’s naming rights in a deal worth 650 million euros over 25 years.
The project extends beyond the ground itself. A 281,000-square-metre masterplan is intended to bring together public spaces, green areas, leisure uses and retail zones.
RedBird Capital Partners and Oaktree, part of Brookfield’s credit platform, are the project owners.
Work is set to begin in 2028, once the latest plans have been approved. The clubs hope to play their first matches there in the 2031-32 season.
The Generali Stadium could also be used for Euro 2032, which Italy and Turkey will host jointly.
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