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Lo Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, stands in the middle of Tecchio Square in Fuorigrotta, a neighborhood of Naples on the border with Pozzuoli. The impressive structure cannot go unnoticed, being among the three largest stadiums in Italy, third only in terms of spectator capacity.
The plant, originally christened Sunshine Stadium, was inaugurated in 1959 with the championship match between Napoli and Juventus, which was won 2 to 1. Since then it became the city's main multi-purpose sports facility and home of the soccer Naples.
Subsequently and until recently, the facility assumed the name of Sao Paulo Stadium to recall the tradition that Paul of Tarsus reached Italy by docking in nearby Pozzuoli.
The Neapolitan people identify with their soccer team, making the sport not only a passion but a true faith. Consequently, the municipal body cannot remain insensitive to this sentiment. It is precisely for this reason that since 2020, with a resolution signed by the same administration, the facility bears the name of one of the world idols of soccer: the athlete Diego Armando Maradona.
Diego Armando Maradona Stadium is thelargest sports facility Of the city of Naples.
The ovoid architecture of the facility has been modified many times over the years. Consider that initially the facility could accommodate up to 87500 standing spectators, while today the actual seating capacity is about 54726, divided between the upper and lower ring of the stadium.
L'facility includes three multipurpose gyms (one for boxing, one for wrestling and martial arts, and one for fitness), a basketball court, and an athletic track with 8 lanes.
Over the years, the stadium has hosted sports meetings of international significance such as those of athletics lightweight in 1962 and 1994 and the Races of the IV Mediterranean Games in 1963. Lastly, the competitions of the 30th Universiade of 2019.
In 1969, the stadium saw the holding of the boxing between middleweights, valid for the WBA and WBC world championships, while in 2006 a circuit for the Champions Motor Race motorsport event.
Inside the Stadium were held not only important events of sports but also concerts of great artists such as the Rolling Stones, Claudio Baglioni, the U2, Peter Tosh, Edoardo Bennato, Pino Daniele and many other internationally renowned musicians.
Finally, there is also the 1990 meeting of the Pope John Paul II with young people, who came on a pastoral visit to Campania.
In addition to these major events, the facility is regularly home to the Napoli team's home matches and has also hosted those of the national soccer team, including European Championships, World Cups and the UEFA Cup.
Diego Armando Maradona Stadium can only be accessed during the events, sports and otherwise, organized within it. To gain access, it is necessary to have an access ticket, which can be purchased in advance and must be shown at the entrance to the staff in charge. Minors under the age of 14 can access the facility only if accompanied by an adult while animals of any kind are strictly prohibited.
Civic rules must be observed during all events held inside Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
The construction of the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium was an unavoidable necessity that arose following the disastrous wartime events of World War II.
In 1942, in fact, the Partenopean Stadium, then the main stadium of Naples. The soccer team was thus made to move to Vomero at the Collana Stadium, which soon proved inadequate both because of its small capacity and the difficulty of reaching the area, which was poorly connected at the time.
So the city administration commissioned the design of a new facility that would be built in Fuorigrotta.
The project was entrusted to architect Carlo Cocchia, who designed a Brutalist-style structure consisting of a single upper ring and a hypogeous one, built below street level.
In 1952, the first work began, which lasted a full seven years and also included various changes during construction from Cocchia's design.
In 1959, construction of the stadium was finally completed and the facility was handed over into the hands of the City of Naples. Its first director was Attila Sallustro, former striker of the Parthenopean soccer team.
In those years the facility, originally called the Stadio del Sole, was structured on two upper levels with travertine bleachers. The playing field around it was surrounded by a six-lane athletic track.
In 1963, the city superintendent's office named the facility as. Sao Paulo Stadium.
During the last years of the 1900s, the building underwent a modernization for the 1980 championship. The structure, similar to how we can admire it today, consisted of the characteristic areas: curve A, curve B, the stands and the Distinti area. With the modernization work, the intention was to upgrade the lighting system and build a two-story structure near the numbered grandstand. In addition, the lighting board would be installed between Curve A and the Distinti area.
A few years later, theorizing began on the construction of a third ring to increase the capacity of the stadium for the 1990 World Cup. Thus there was a profound restructuring which began in 1988. During those years a canopy and press box was built, a facility to accommodate commentators and television directors. Two elevators and seating were installed in all areas. The lighting system, entrances and athletic track were again modernized, and two screens were installed near the main scoreboard. Next came the underground multi-story parking lot and the coveted third ring.
A work so profound that it was not finished until 1991, so that the World Cup was actually held elsewhere.
The capacity of the stadium was increased but soon after the renovation the stadium began to have structural problems. Shocks and failures led to temporary unusability that alternated with brief reopenings.
The situation only improved in 2002 after extensive upgrading of the spaces and the closure of the third ring and changes to the roof unable to fulfill the functionality for which it was designed.
Since 2008, there have been other construction works and restyling: serpentines and directions in Italian and English were built, and the press room was expanded.
Last maintenance work involving the installation of auxiliary displays, locker rooms, bleacher seats, and stadium facilities was done at the 2019 Universiade.
On Dec. 4, 2020, the stadium was renamed after champion Diego Armando Maradona with a resolution signed by the mayor and city council of Naples just nine days after the great athlete's death.
One of the greatest soccer athletes of all time was, without a shadow of a doubt, the great Diego Armando Maradona. During his long career he was a coach, manager, and one of the strongest midfielders in the world.
Known throughout the world as El Pibe de Oro (translated from the Argentine golden boy), Maradona played for many teams starting with his national team, Argentina, and becoming the idol of Naples. Countless football feats in which D10S played as a protagonist and for which he was showered with glory and recognition.
Maradona scored the goal of the century against England in the 1986 quarterfinals.
From a technical point of view, Diego was a left-handed trequartista with an exceptional ability for overall and constant vision of the game and an unparalleled ball control with which he could dribble and make very precise passes.
He could score directly on corner kicks and make perfect assists.
Argentines were so proud of the Pibe de oro that they founded the Iglesia Maradoniana (Church of Maradona) in 1998, but Neapolitans, who knew and loved this charismatic and invincible figure, have elected Maradona as the hero and king of soccer.
On the other hand, Maradona had humble beginnings and succeeded in becoming a legend only by his grandiose mastery, but he never forgot the way simple people talk and behave.
The Neapolitan people, made up mainly of middle and lower class people who have always struggled against the power of the strongest and northern teams, immediately recognized Maradona as one of them.
A Via San Biagio dei Librai Neapolitans also dedicated a shrine where a photo of Maradona wearing a Napoli jersey and a hair of his is displayed, kept in a shrine. This is where many fans used to go before the start of matches, to pray and receive a kind of soccer grace.
In 1991, the Te Diegum, a conference organized in honor of theathlete of which there is a book of the same name that reports all the details of this event.
In 2017 Diego Armando Maradona was recognized as an honorary citizen of the city of Naples.
A few days after his death on November 25, 2020, the City of Naples dedicated the city's largest stadium to the athlete. Plans belonging to the near future include the installation in the Naples stadium, of the large statue of Diego Armando Maradona by Dominic Sepe, while it is the same municipality that is organizing the Maradona Experience.
Private tours and tours, for a fee, reveal all the secrets of the great Maradona's life and recount his exploits in the history of World and Naples soccer.
Interesting facts about Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
The stadium, impressively designed and subjected to continuous alterations and reconstructions, still possesses numerous criticality. Among them, the onerous operating costs only worsen the situation, making it almost unrecoverable. The president of Naples De Laurentiis, like others before him, hopes for the construction of a new and better facility for this.
The inefficient roofing and the underground multi-story parking lot that could never come into operation give many management concerns while the large athletic track, rarely used for major sporting events, limits the view especially in the lower part of the lower ring where the advertising rotors are placed.
Nevertheless, the stadium is part of the history of the city of Naples and has been the set of various movie Italians including: Picone sends me, Luke the smuggler, Operation San Gennaro, Welcome to the North, The truth is in the sky, The extra man, That boy from Curve B, Santa Maradona, ed Outstanding Really. In addition, Diego Armando Maradona Stadium was represented in the 50th edition of the animated series Mundial boys and appears in the video game PC Football 6.0 of 1997.
Songs Mentioning the majestic Stadium are: Overcoming hatred of Elio e le Storie Tese and One color of Fuossera.
