Italy's stadiums: 31 projects and $5 billion in investments still stalled, placing us last in Europe.

ROME – Football is increasingly a sport for young people and women. The numbers speak for themselves. One in four boys in Italy puts on their boots to chase a ball, the number of female footballers has doubled in seventeen years, reaching nearly fifty thousand, and almost half are between the ages of 10 and 15. These are just some of the data contained in the ReportCalcio , produced annually by the Italian Football Federation and Pwc Italia.

Italy third in Europe for stadium attendance

Football continues to hold a key place in the hearts of Italians, given that nearly a third of registered athletes in Italy have chosen soccer. And the numbers are growing. Above all, stadium attendances are growing: behind those in England and Germany are Italian stadiums, at least in terms of attendance. The average attendance per match is 31,172, the highest since at least 1992. Not only that: Inter is second only to Manchester United in attendances. Each year, Serie A sells 77% of its tickets; the problem, if anything, is the age of its stadiums: each 56 years old.

Projects worth 5 billion still at a standstill

This is also because we are among the very last in Europe for new facilities: only 1% of them have been built in our country over the last eighteen years, 6 in total. And half of them are in peripheral centers and for teams (Frosinone, Albinoleffe, Sudtirol) that aren't exactly at the top of the sports pyramid. Just to give a point of comparison: Poland and Turkey, in the same period, each built 30 facilities, Germany 19, and Russia 16. Yet the projects are there, but in many cases they are stalled, in others they are proceeding very slowly. In total, 31 are underway, worth €5.1 billion in investments that could generate a €6.1 billion impact on GDP, creating 80,000 jobs and generating €1.8 billion in revenue.

Clubs' accounts are improving

The economic and financial situation is equally worrying. Overall debt has reached €5.5 billion, and 80% of the financial statements analyzed over the last 17 years are loss-making. Revenues, meanwhile, barely cover 83% of the debt. But be careful, because something is moving. Production value has reached the highest figure in the history of Italian football: €4.5 billion, with a record of over €1 billion in sponsorships, which have tripled in 17 years. Losses are also decreasing, literally halving (from €1.4 billion to €731 million), partly because turnover is growing almost five times faster than labor costs. For FIGC President Gravina, "the priorities are: decisive investment in facilities, also thanks to the 2032 European Championship bid process, which is spurring positive developments in several Italian cities, and in reforms to improve economic and financial sustainability, because the improvement in the critical situation over the last two seasons is due to the increase in production value and is not yet structured enough to secure Italian football's finances."