Capital Balls FIFA football balls

After strolling along the road skirting the race course and inhaling the fragrance of the sausages, onions and paprika exuding from the mobile snack bars, suddenly it looms up in front of you around the bend in the road. Majestic, sophisticated, subtle and colossal all in one: the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium.
Perhaps it seems all the more awe-inspiring because both AC Milan and Inter Milan, two of the most prestigious clubs in the world, call it their home. “Milan is without doubt the capital of football and our stadium is the worthiest stage,” comments AC Milan vice-chairman Adriano Galiani with obvious pride.
Over the years, such fulsome appellations have been lavished on the stadium as “the football temple” and “the Scala of football”. But to most Italians, it is known simply as San Siro because of its location in the San Siro district about five kilometres from the centre of Milan, with its wide stretches of green spaces and elegant houses contrasting starkly with grim cement blocks. However, there is no longer any sign of the idyllic village and the chapel of Saint Syrus, who gave the district its name.
AC Milan’s fans are reluctant to mention the name of Giuseppe Meazza, who played for their club for one season before moving to rivals Inter, where he stayed for 14 years. After Meazza’s death in 1979, the arena was officially renamed the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza and a commemorative plaque placed at the main entrance, in honour of Milan’s famous son and two-time World Cup winner in 1934 and 1938.
The San Siro had, in fact, had little to do with Inter Milan before they moved into the stadium in 1947. AC Milan chairman Piero Pirelli decided to build a fitting stadium for his club in 1925. Architect Ulisse Stacchini, the brains behind Milan’s impressive main station, drew his inspiration from the typical English curve-free stadium – after all, AC Milan had been founded by Englishmen. Thirteen months later, on 19 September 1926, the official inauguration took place – but Inter wrecked the celebrations by crushing their rivals 6-3. Now there is very little to see of the original 35,000 seats and the English-type model since it underwent major refurbishment.
THE LARGEST STADIUM
The Italian word for “fan” – tifoso — is derived from “typhus”, so it is little wonder that the football bug in Italy spreads rapidly from one person to the other. To satisfy this hunger for football, the corners of the stadium were filled in in 1939 and an extra tier erected on top of the existing stands. 7he result was breathtaking. San Siro could then accommodate 150,000 spectators and thus became the largest stadium in the world – theoretically. Fears about safety in the stadium, however, soon prompted the city of Milan to reduce capacity to 100,000.
The Giuseppe Meazza was given its last facelift for the 1990 FIFA World Cup™. A third tier was added, propped up by eleven cement towers that lead in seemingly endless spirals to the vertiginous second and top tiers. Now completely covered, it can accommodate 82,955 spectators.
Although the appalling state of the battered pitch often gave rise to criticism of the turf among the players, fans have never had cause for complaint about the entertainment provided at the 81-year-old San Siro. It was here that Cameroon humiliated defending champions Argentina 1-0 in the opening match of the 1990 World Cup. And in 1965, the celebrated Grande Inter side, with Mazzola, Corso and Suarez, celebrated their second and most recent triumph in the European Cup by beating Benfica 1-0. Twenty-four years later, AC Milan, armed with the Dutch trio Rijkaard, Gullit and Van Basten and coached by Arrigo Sacchi, swept Real Madrid aside in the same tournament with a crushing 5-0 victory.
BOXING AND DISCO
But the Giuseppe Meazza has also made history in all sorts of domains outside football. On 1 September 1960, 53,043 spectators watched the World Welterweight Championship fight between Duilio Loi and Carlos Ortis – a European record number which remains unbroken to this day. In 1980, a crowd of 90,000 flocked to see Bob Marley in his only ever concert in Italy. Later on, musical giants such as the Rolling Stones, U2 and Bruce Springsteen packed the arena. In the 1990s, Milanese youngsters twisted and turned to open-air disco music ringing from the main stands.
But nothing will ever detract from its aura as the temple of Italian football. It has been the home ground of such dazzling stars as Giacinto Facchetti, Gianni Rivera, George Weah, Ronaldo, Lothar Matthaus, Kaka, Andrea Pirlo and Clarence Seedorf. “San Siro is like home and, without exaggeration, a place where all kinds of magic can happen,” enthused AC Milan captain Paolo Maldini recently.
At present, Inter Milan are seriously debating the option of building their own stadium. Then the AC Milan fans could call the Giuseppe Meazza their very own. That would only be fair – after all, it was they who built it.

THE STADIUM
Name: Giuseppe Meazza (San Siro)
Address: Via Piccolommi 5, 20151 Milan – Italy
Opened: 1926
Last renovation: 1990
No. of seats: 82,955
% of stadium covered: 100%
Home teams: AC Milan, inter Milan
Internet: www.acmilan.it, www.inter.it, www.sansiro.net

For many football fans around the world, the Yokohama International Stadium is best known as the venue of the 2002 FIFA World Cup™ final and the annual FIFA Club World Cup. The stadium, more commonly known as the Nissan Stadium since March 2005 when the naming rights were sold to the Japanese car manufacturer, is aiming to become a centre of sporting activity not only for professionals, but also for all the people in the surrounding area.
The stadium was completed in October 1997 after three years and nine months of construction work at a cost of 60.7 billion yen. It was initially planned as the main stadium for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games for which Yokohama was bidding.
Although that bid failed, the 72,327-scater stadium (including 390 VIP seats and 28 royal box seats) became the largest in the country and has hosted many top international events. The highlight came on 30 June 2002 when Brazil beat Germany 2-0 to win the World Cup.
The stadium is designed to host a variety of sports, including rugby union and American football, and also host cultural events such as concerts. The nine-lane, 400m athletics track also carries a top rating, which enables the stadium to stage international track and field meetings. But football is still the stadium’s main sport and it is the home ground of the J-League Division 1 club Yokohama F. Marinos.
Since its opening on 1 March 1998 – a Dynasty Cup match between Japan and Korea Republic – 16 out of 72 Japan matches have been held at the Yokohama International Stadium. This figure may seem small, but the Japan Football Association likes to move international games around the country’s main stadiums. In any case, those 16 matches have seen a fair amount of drama.
For example, it was at the International Stadium that Hidetoshi Nakata scored the only goal in Japan’s win against Australia in a rain-soaked 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup semi-final, thus setting up a final against reigning world champions France in which the Japanese fought hard before eventually losing 1-0.
On 9 June 2002 the stadium also witnessed Japan’s first ever World Cup win, a 1-0 victory over Russia thanks to Junichi Inamoto’s winning goal.
NOT JUST PROFESSIONALS
Since 2005, the Yokohama International Stadium has served as the venue for one of the semi¬finals and the final of the FIFA Club World Cup, entertaining many fans in Japan and around the world with the best of club football. But it is not just about professionals.
The stadium’s track is also open for individual athletes and 17,245 trained there last year on dedicated days. The stadium also runs the Nissan Stadium Athletic Academy for children, which is headed by Susumu Takano, a former Japanese record-holder in the 400m.
Located in the 70.4-hectare Shin-Yokohama Sports Park, the stadium facilities include both a natural turf pitch and an artificial pitch, where J-League club Yokohama FC used to train. A baseball field was opened in August 2007 and there are plans for tennis courts, a training ground for throwing events such as the hammer and the shot put, and a multi-purpose sports field to be completed by 2010. The Nissan Water Park swimming pool and a gym within the stadium are already popular with people in the Shin-Yokohama area.
A sports medical centre started operations on the east side of the stadium in April 1998, offering medical/health checks and rehabilitation treatment, as well as health advice and sports clinics. The centre received 304,540 visitors in 2006.
The stadium also stages non-sporting events. Flea markets are often held on the stadium concourse and you can make your wedding day extra special by getting hitched at the state-of-the-art stadium. Since the start of the wedding service in December 2002, a total of 53 couples have been married inside the stadium and more are on the waiting list. Not surprisingly, many of them are football fans.
VENUE FOR LOCAL PEOPLE
The stadium is blessed with convenient access. It is only a 15-20 walk from the Shin-Yokohama bullet train station, which is a 20-minute journey from Tokyo. With only a 10-minute ride on the subway from Shin-Yokohama station, you can also get to downtown Yokohama and Chinatown, which are both ideal locations for shopping, eating and sightseeing. “With good accessibility, we are hoping to make this area a centre for sporting events and activities for the local people,” said Masakatsu Kanno, press officer of the Yokohama City Sports Association, who jointly operate the stadium with Yokohama F. Marinos.
A big stadium cannot survive by merely relying on hosting big events. If stadiums such as the Yokohama International Stadium act as venues for local people and their activities, then their future may well be bright.