Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis has used Arsenal and their stadium as a means to take a swipe at Italian authorities.
Calcio Finanza cover the Napoli president’s comments today. He’s been speaking at the Football Business Forum this week.
The focus has very much been on stadiums in Italian football this week. AC Milan and Inter Milan have taken a major step to replacing the iconic San Siro. They’ve bought the stadium, paving the way for it to be knocked down and replaced by a new stadium in the coming years.
Napoli are also keen to build a new stadium in the next few years. The famous Diego Armando Maradona stadium is seen as a ‘most painful knot’ by the Italian club.
De Laurentiis would like to build a new stadium as the current one would require significant upgrades to meet UEFA standards for tournaments like Euro 2032. There is also a feeling at Napoli that it does not support the club enough financially.
“As happened with Arsenal…”
London , England – February 2nd 2025
The Old Highbury Stadium , the home of Arsenal FC , London
They are looking around Europe at some of the modern stadiums bringing in significant sums for their clubs. There’s two in London in particular, Arsenal’s and Tottenham’s. And De Laurentiis used Arsenal as an example as he took a swipe at Italian authorities.
“The Maradona Stadium is a dump. I said it when Ancelotti arrived,” he said.
“PSG pays the same amount for its stadium as Napoli, but they have exclusive rights and earn €100 m, while we only have it for three days: before, during, and after the event. It’s an old stadium, with an athletics track that isn’t ideal for spectators, and even a moat that makes it even more remote.
“We have a problem with the Italian authorities, who perhaps without realising it are football’s greatest enemies. They don’t realise that there are 25m potential voters.
“In 2013, we went to London to play against Arsenal. I visited the Emirates Stadium: 200 seating areas and 60,700 seats. The city granted the club permission to build housing in the area around the new stadium to immediately recoup its investment. This has allowed Arsenal to remain at the top for 15 years, despite not winning a Scudetto since 2004.
“We need approval for residential use, even if not adjacent to the stadium. Those properties would guarantee income that would support the investment in the long term, as happened with Arsenal.”