Stadio Diego Armando Maradona (formerly known as Stadio San Paolo) is a stadium in the western

Fuorigrotta Fuorigrotta ( nap, Forerotta; ) is a western suburb of Naples, southern Italy. Covering an area of 6,2 km2, it is the most populated suburb of the city (population: 76.521). Geography It lies beyond the Posillipo hill and has been joined ...

suburb of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. It is the third largest football stadium in Italy, after

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums ...

and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Stadio Olimpico The Stadio Olimpico (English: ''Olympic Stadium'') is the largest sports facility in Rome, Italy, seating over 70,000 spectators. It is located within the Foro Italico sports complex, north of the city. The structure is owned by the Italian N ...

, as well as the largest to be used by only one team. For the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

, the stadium hosted the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

preliminaries. It is currently used mostly for

matches and is the home stadium of

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli (), is an Italian professional football club based in the city of Naples ( it, Napoli, nap, Napule), Campania that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. Napoli has ...

. Constructed in 1959, the stadium was extensively renovated in 1989 for the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being ...

and again in 2018. The stadium currently accommodates 60,240 spectators, but in the past with terraced sections, the stadium took close to 90,000

History

Even though

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

was in the

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1. Before the 1978 ...

during the 2005–06 season, Napoli achieved the feat of having the 3rd highest average home attendance in Italy for the season, with only two

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

clubs,

and Internazionale having higher attendances. Napoli's final game of the season drew a crowd of 51,000 which now stands as a Serie C all-time record. The stadium also hosted Italy's Euro 2008 qualifier against

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

on 2 September 2006. Universiadi1

The stadium was renovated in preparation for the 2019 Summer Universiade; this included replacing metal fencing with glass barriers and replacing seats. This means the stadium's capacity was reduced from 60,240 to 54,726. The stadium hosted the opening ceremony and athletics event. Following the death of former Napoli player

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the F ...

on 25 November 2020, the city's mayor Luigi de Magistris and Napoli president

Aurelio De Laurentiis Aurelio De Laurentiis (born 24 May 1949) is an Italian film producer through his company, Filmauro, and the owner of Italian football clubs Napoli (of which he is also chairman) and Bari. He is the nephew of film producer Dino De Laurentiis ...

proposed renaming the stadium "Stadio Diego Armando Maradona", and on 4 December 2020, the proposal was passed by the City Council.

Events

1990 FIFA World Cup

The stadium was one of the venues of the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being ...

, and held five matches. The first two were Argentina’s Group B matches: the first was against

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

on 13 June winning 2-0, and the second was against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

on 18 June ending in a 1-1 draw. The next two were

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the ...

matches: the first was a Round of 16 match against

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

on 23 June winning 2-1 after extra time, and the second was a Quarter-finals match against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

on 1 July losing 3-2 after extra time. The fifth and last was the semi-final between Argentina and

on 3 July. Argentina's superstar

, who played for Naples's Italian 1st division team and was a hero to their supporters, asked Napoli fans to cheer for Argentina. The Napoli

tifosi Tifosi () is a group of supporters of a sports team, especially those that make up a tifo. Etymology It is erroneously claimed that "In Italian, literally means those infected by typhus disease, a reference to someone acting in a fevered man ...

responded by hanging a giant flag in their "

curva Curva (plural: ''curve'' ) is an Italian term or name for curved stands of seating located at sports stadiums, particularly in Italy; so named, originally, due to their curved or bending shape. The curva plays an integral part in the culture of ...

" of the stadium saying "Maradona, Naples loves you, but Italy is our homeland". Maradona later said he was touched that Napoli was the only stadium during that World Cup where the Argentinian national anthem was not jeered. The match finished 1–1 after extra time. A penalty shootout ensued, with Maradona fittingly scoring the winning penalty for Argentina.

References

External links

Stadio San Paolo Virtual TourStadium Guide Article1960 Summer Olympics official report.
Volume 1. p. 86. {{Coord, 40.827967, 14.193008, type:landmark, display=inline,title

San Paolo San Paolo (Italian for "Saint Paul") is a '' comune'' in the Province of Brescia, in the Italian region Lombardy (man), (woman) lmo, lumbard, links=no (man), (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , populat ...

San Sport in Naples S.S.C. Napoli 1990 FIFA World Cup stadiums Sports venues completed in 1959 Venues of the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic football venues Multi-purpose stadiums in Italy UEFA Euro 1968 stadiums Sports venues in Naples UEFA Euro 1980 stadiums 1959 establishments in Italy Diamond League venues