San Paolo Stadium
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| Full name | Stadio San Paolo |
|---|---|
| Former names | Stadio del Sole |
| Location | Naples, Campania, Italy |
| Coordinates | 40°49′41″N 14°11′35″E / 40.827967°N 14.193008°ECoordinates: 40°49′41″N 14°11′35″E / 40.827967°N 14.193008°E |
| Owner | Comune di Napoli |
| Executive suites | 20 |
| Capacity | 109,824 (originally) 60,240 (current) |
| Record attendance | 89,992 (SSC Napoli-AC Perugia, 20 October 1979) |
| Field size | 110 m × 68 m (361 ft × 223 ft) |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1948 |
| Built | 1948–1959 |
| Opened | December 6, 1959 |
| Renovated | 1990, 2010 |
| Architect | Carlo Cocchia, Luigi Corradi |
| Tenants | |
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S.S.C. Napoli (1959–present) Italian football team (selected matches) |
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Stadio San Paolo is a stadium in the western suburb of Fuorigrotta in Naples, Italy, and is the third largest football stadium in Italy after the San Siro and Stadio Olimpico. For the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, it hosted the football preliminaries. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home of Napoli. The stadium was built in 1959 and underwent extensive renovations in 1989 for the 1990 World Cup. The present capacity of the San Paolo is 60,240.
The stadium is probably most famous for hosting the 1990 World Cup semi-final between Italy and Argentina. Considered to be the most intriguing match of that World Cup, Diego Maradona, who played for Naples's Italian 1st division team, asked for the Napoli fans to cheer for Argentina. The Napoli tifosi responded by hanging a flag in their "curva" of the stadium saying "Maradona, Naples loves you, but Italy is our homeland". It was touching for Maradona as Napoli was the only stadium during that World Cup that the Argentinian national anthem was not jeered. The match finished 1–1 after extra time. A penalty shoot out ensued with Maradona fittingly scoring the winning penalty for Argentina.
Even with Napoli in Serie C1 during the 2005–06 season, Napoli achieved the feat of having the 3rd highest average home attendance in Italy for the season with only two Serie A clubs, Milan and Internazionale having higher attendances. Napoli's final game of the season drew a crowd of 51,000 which now stands as a Serie C record.
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