Napoli stadium plans stall: Poggioreale on hold, Afragola returns | OneFootball

The infrastructure transformation project envisioned by Aurelio De Laurentiis for the 2024-2026 biennium is going through a decidedly critical phase. After the extension of the contract for the Castel Volturno sports center, the plan for the new Naples stadium is also experiencing further delays.

Naples, the new stadium slows down too: Poggioreale remains a blocked hypothesis. Now the Afragola option is back in the spotlight

The Municipality has indeed confirmed its negative stance regarding the proposal to build the facility in the Poggioreale area, a decision that significantly complicates the club's strategy.

Stadium in Poggioreale: an increasingly uphill hypothesis

According to reports from Repubblica Napoli, the recent conference of services within the ZES – Special Economic Zone – concluded without concrete progress. The Municipality expressed an "unfavorable opinion" on the project presented by SSC Napoli, also requesting that the preliminary nature of the conference be formalized, clarifying that the meeting cannot in any way be considered an authorizing act.

This is a signal that further cools the possibilities of building the stadium in the Caramanico market area, a complex area from a logistical point of view and already occupied by about three hundred market operators, who are also opposed to the proposal. The presence of a second project – that of "AreNapoli" for a new sports arena – raises further questions about the urban compatibility of the area.

The club's position

SSC Napoli does not release official comments, but the line appears clear: no concrete interest in the renovation of the Maradona Stadium, an intervention that will still be carried out with public funds and not with the club's investments.

The company formally continues with the planned process for Poggioreale, but the internal awareness is that the process has returned to a stalemate. The lack of solid political-administrative consensus makes the area highly uncertain for short and medium-term realization.

Afragola returns among the alternatives: a hypothesis already discussed in the past

If Poggioreale were to receive a definitive denial, a solution already evaluated in past years would regain momentum: moving the project to the province, to Afragola.

The interactions between the club and the Afragola municipal administration are no secret. The area near the high-speed train station – designed by Zaha Hadid – is considered strategic in several respects:

modern infrastructures already present

rail and road connections above the metropolitan area average

more flexible urban spaces for a large-scale project

opportunities for commercial development with private investments

For Naples, it would mean abandoning the idea of a stadium within city limits, but it could represent the first real opportunity to build a modern, owned, and economically sustainable facility.

A biennium of uncertainties for the club's infrastructure project

The two pillars of De Laurentiis's vision – a new sports center and a new stadium – thus remain stuck in the embryonic phase. While the team led by Antonio Conte is going through a complex moment on the technical level, the corporate dimension also does not find the expected breakthrough.

The impression is that the club has entered a period of strategic evaluations: recalibrating objectives, verifying the sustainability of proposals, and analyzing territorial alternatives will be decisive in the coming months.

Awaiting new sessions of the ZES conference, the future of Napoli's facilities remains suspended between the ambition to build a modern home for the club and the reality of a territory that requires more articulated and shared solutions.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.