The Sports Councilor of the Municipality of Milan is preparing for the two major events: “The shared games are also a sign for the future. It took us seven years to close the circle with Inter and Milan”
2025 and the first months of 2026 will go down in history as two magical moments for the city of Milan. Finally Inter and Milan will have a new stadium, on November 23rd the first Milanese derby in history was played with the clubs that own the facility. And in February the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will start from San Siro, an event shared for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games.
Martina Riva, sports councilor of the municipality of Milan, the Milan-Cortina Olympics is upon us. Tell us your emotion
“A unique emotion, we are preparing to host the largest event that Milan has ever organized thanks to a unique vision. We and the IOC thought of organizing the Winter Olympics without having the mountains. A great success. The idea of the alliance is fundamental to continue to be competitive for major international competitions and therefore I expect that in the future we will continue in this direction, which is the right one (the next World Cup will be in the USA, Canada and Mexico, the 2030 World Cup in Spain, Portugal and Morocco).
You have brought the mountains to Milan with the new facilities and the competitions that will be held in the city.
“It was a winning idea and we are finalizing the final things. We are ready with the Olympic Village which after the games will become a student residence with 1,700 beds. Milan is a university city and having a legacy of this type makes us very proud. The Arena Milano in Santa Giulia is at an excellent point, it is an arena that will allow us to have a 16,000 seat sports facility where, dreaming a little, we will be able to host the ATP Tennis Finals and the Basketball World Cup and volleyball. And then Fiera, which has decided to transform two pavilions for hockey and speed skating, but which will then also remain available to the city for concerts”.
Was there a need for a restyling or are these works superfluous?
“No, they are not superfluous. Milan has a large number of facilities for grassroots sports, but we lacked the size of the two new arenas. Being able to count on private works for an event of public interest is a winning model because it means a positive alliance between public and private”.
The return on the city will be enormous.
“We are in constant contact with the Prefecture because many people and many heads of state will arrive in Milan. We expect a large number of tourists, but these are numbers that do not scare us because we are used to the Fashion week and the Salone del Mobile, we are used to managing large influxes of tourism. We did it in an optimal way on the occasion of the Expo, we are ready to best welcome those who want to visit our city as we have always done”
And then is there a new stadium in sight? Is it harder to do that or build an Olympics?
“Stadio beats the Olympics, there’s no doubt. An operation that lasted more than six years, we tried to explore all avenues to arrive at a solution that was on par with the great European capitals and that would satisfy the clubs. It’s a great moment for the teams and for the city, we’re talking about an investment of more than a billion euros which will also serve to redevelop an entire neighborhood.”
Inter and Milan will share the stadium, another unique case.
“It’s a sign of civility, just seeing the fans returning home together on the metro without problems. It’s a sustainable model, we didn’t like the idea that so much space could be dedicated to another stadium. The timing? It depends on how quickly the teams will complete the final project and how long the services conference will last. I say that we will have it for the 2032 European Championship, but I hope that Milan president Scaroni is right when he spoke about 2030. The realistic date is that of 2032 because we cannot think of Italy organizing a European football championship without paphtites being played in Milan”.
Have you thought about the new name of the stadium?
“I read with interest that many names are proposed. But I would prefer the current name to remain”
Will playing in an open construction site be a problem?
“There will be some complexities as with other metro construction sites. I am sure that the skills of Milan and the teams will guarantee excellent experiences. During construction periods you need to have a little patience”
