Green light cleared for Roma's new stadium: construction timeline confirmed

Lorenzo Pellegrini is being considered as a new option on the left wing for Gasperini after regaining form over the past week. The midfielder is targeting a starting place against Como when training resumes, and will be trialled in the role that has lacked a settled incumbent. So far, Matías Soulé has been the primary choice with 353 minutes played, while Rodrigo Mora has featured for 187 minutes. Vincenzo Pincolini, the historic athletic trainer under Arrigo Sacchi at Milan, identified insufficient intensity as a key problem in Italian football. He cited Roma–Inter as a rare positive example of the standard required: "A match the likes of which you see only a couple of times in the entire season in our league. The intensity was extremely high." Pincolini referenced Paulo Dybala's performance with specific praise: "When did you last see him run like that? It is no accident that one of the two teams is coached by Gasperini." The trainer argued that narrowing the gap with foreign football depends above all on "training more". Francesco Totti received special tributes from friends, former teammates, supporters and sports figures. Roma released a video celebrating some of his greatest moments, while messages arrived from Roberto Gualtieri and Gianni Infantino. Former player Zago recalled an amusing detail: "In the middle of the night he started shouting, 'Give me the ball, give me the ball'. Then they explained to me that he often talked in his sleep."

Gian Piero Gasperini has steered Roma to the top of Serie A after four wins and a draw in his opening matches, accumulating 13 points alongside Inter and Lazio. The coach, who guided Roma to third place and Champions League qualification in the 2025-26 season, has introduced three key innovations that have reshaped the squad's identity. The first centres on the fullback role. Despite having four right-sided options available in Molina, Rensch, Lulli and Wesley, Gasperini has stabilised Wesley on the left flank, instructing him not only to attack but to drift infield to link play with teammates. Gasperini explained the reasoning: "There was an idea to sign a left-footer, but not having one is no problem for me. Like in attack, we can have inverted wingers." The second innovation is Gasperini's ability to reshape the team mid-match without predetermined patterns, including reorganising the defence on tactical impulse. In Roma's clash against Atalanta, he changed two-thirds of the back line to overturn a deficit, saying: "When you go behind you rarely think about changing at the back, but we were struggling and fresh energy there put the ball back in our hands." Beyond the pitch, Gasperini has transformed the handling of the Roman environment—traditionally a source of complex pressure. He has repositioned supporters' enthusiasm as a motivational force, stating: "The city is everything, it motivates and stimulates you. The Olimpico always full is wonderful, it gives you positive pressure." At Trigoria training ground, he has fostered an atmosphere where players want to be: "There is an environment here where you have pleasure in coming. I am in love with this group."

Roma faces a decisive moment on 28 September 2026 as the conclusive meeting of the decisory Services Conference on the Pietralata stadium project takes place at 10:30 at the headquarters of the Higher Council for Public Works of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. The session will determine whether the administrative approval process for the new ground — pursued over more than 40 years through different ownership eras, from Viola to Sensi, Pallotta and now the Friedkin Group — can finally proceed. Around 50 institutional and technical bodies will attend, including Rome City Council, the Lazio Region, government ministries, the Metropolitan City, local health authorities, State Railways, CONI, ATAC and ACEA. Roma will be represented by Lucia Bernabé, the club's institutional relations manager. The outcome is widely regarded as positive after recent endorsements from sensitive quarters. The Superintendence gave its approval with conditions around green space and archaeological protection: a Roman villa identified underground must be excavated and protected within a designated buffer zone, while an ancient cistern in the area must be integrated into the stadium design in a dedicated space. The overall investment is approximately €1.3 billion, with a 60,605-capacity stadium centring on a new South Stand designed to hold around 23,000 supporters — one of Europe's largest. Approval today does not mean construction begins tomorrow. Once the Conference concludes positively, extraordinary commissioner for Euro 2032 Massimo Sessa must formalise the conclusive acts and Environmental Impact Assessment. Roma must then incorporate all prescriptions and recommendations into the definitive project, though none are expected to fundamentally alter the design. Roma's target is to complete the definitive project by year-end to open construction between March and April 2027. Euro 2032, organised by Italy and Turkey, features Pietralata as a candidate among five Italian venues. Stadium completion is scheduled for 2031, when the first match in the new giallorossi home could take place.