UEFA stadium guide in Italian

UEFA's special guide to stadium design and construction is now available in Italian (desktop and mobile version) thanks to cooperation between European football's governing body and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).

Football stadiums should be of an appropriate calibre in the modern day top-level game, and the UEFA Guide to Quality Stadiums covers all the issues related to their design and building, from inception through to the opening ceremony.

The guide is already available in English, French, German, Russian and Spanish, and the objective is to deliver guidelines that are easy to read and understand. The guide also meets UEFA's objective to encourage its 54 associations to help raise overall stadium standards across Europe.

UEFA emphasises that stadiums are at the heart of the professional game. Consequently, top-quality venues are vital to the comfort, safety and security of spectators, players, officials, media and staff. The initial vision was to develop a comprehensive but accessible step-by-step guide to stadium design and construction that lays out the various processes and many of the issues involved.

The guide states that associations and clubs wishing to build a stadium might often lack the personnel with the relevant skills or experience to tackle a project of this nature. It makes clear that the manual is primarily geared towards those who have never before undertaken a football venue, or been actively connected to a design and construction project of this size and complexity, thereby seeking to supply them with an insight into exactly what is required.

The guide's structure shows the chronological sequence of events in the process, and gives simple and concise recommendations on a comprehensive range of matters – assembling a project team and choosing an architect; evaluating design options and resolving legal, financial and technical issues; comprehending all stadium facilities; and finally selecting a contractor and managing the works up to the opening- day ceremony. The guide also contains case studies of different-sized successful European stadiums, while a glossary carries definitions and further explanations on the various topics covered in the publication.

The partnership between UEFA and the FIGC in delivering the Italian version of the guide is highlighted in the forewords by the Italian association's president Carlo Tavecchio and CEO Michele Uva.

"The document represents a useful and practical reference guide for the planning, design, construction and management of a stadium of the new generation," says Tavecchio. "It is a report of great value, because it conveys the extraordinary experience that UEFA has gained internationally in terms of sports facilities.

"We hope this document can contribute to promoting [...] new investment initiatives which will produce an important legacy in the medium to long term in several respects: security, urban redevelopment, social aspects, a positive impact for society and the public accounts, employment, environmental sustainability and the training of new specialist professionals. A programme of renewal that our football cannot now do without."

"We believe that having an Italian translation of the UEFA guide – the main benchmark internationally for project investment in football infrastructure – will offer significant added value in the context of the more general upgrading and modernisation of Italian stadiums," adds Uva. "The main way for Italian football to grow is to give impetus to the development of a new generation of facilities [...] Sporting venues should always be the starting point for tomorrow's history."