Roma resume training Wednesday ahead of Fiorentina opener

Roma will wear a special third kit in their centenary season inspired by the colours of the club's historic predecessor Alba. According to Footy Headlines, the new strip will feature white and green as the predominant colours, with the traditional ASR acronym on the chest. Adidas will continue as Roma's kit supplier through the milestone 2026-27 season. The official centenary date of 22 July 2027 is still some distance away, but details of the kits that will accompany the Giallorossi through their 100th year are already beginning to emerge.

AS Roma have secured definitive authorization to build a new stadium in the Pietralata area following approval by the services' conference on Tuesday at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. The meeting greenlit the final technical adjustments and economic feasibility of the entire plan, clearing the path for the operational phase to commence. Roma will present the executive project shortly and break ground in spring, with construction targeted for completion by 2030 in time for Euro 2032, scheduled to take place in Italy and Turkey. The club will continue playing at the Stadio Olimpico until the new ground is ready. The new stadium will hold 60,000 seats, with roughly a third dedicated to the new Curva Sud, designed in the style of Borussia Dortmund's Die Gelbe Wand. The project incorporates a substantial new park, a club museum and store. According to QuiFinanza, the stadium itself will cost approximately €600 million, while the entire project is priced at €1.37 billion. The Friedkin Group and its partners will finance the scheme entirely through their own capital, a construction loan, a project bond and a VAT facility. The final deadline for completion falls roughly one year before Euro 2032 kicks off. The stadium's relocation to a different part of the city carries significant urban planning implications for Rome.

AS Roma's new stadium at Pietralata has cleared its biggest hurdle. The Services Conference concluded positively and the single authorization was signed, closing the main approval phase of the project. The groundbreaking is targeted for March 2027, but several technical and administrative steps remain before construction can begin. Crucially, the dynamic has shifted: the question is no longer whether the stadium will be built, but whether all necessary procedures can be completed to make it a functioning construction site. The first phase involves detailed design. The approved executive project must be further developed to incorporate all requirements that emerged during the Services Conference, including archaeology, environment, traffic and public works provisions. This stage is expected to take three to four months. Parallel verification and validation activities must also proceed ahead of actual construction work. Significantly, much of the process will not rest solely with Roma. A central step is a public tender for the concession—which covers detailed design, construction and management of the facility plus surface rights over municipal areas. This is not a private procurement where the club freely selects a contractor; the procedure must follow public-private partnership rules. Roma, as project promoter, begins from a particular position and may exercise rights provided by regulations within the procedure. The club must complete design work and prepare the construction phase while Rome's municipal administration handles project verification, the public concession procedure and area procedures. These steps can largely run in parallel. Additionally, procedures for expropriating private portions necessary for the project—now possible following the public utility declaration—must be finalized, with costs borne by the concessionaire. Archaeological activities required by the Archaeological Superintendent must also continue. The final phase involves concession award, agreement, guarantees, creation of surface rights and area handover. Only when all these elements are in place can the project become a functioning construction site. The March 2027 target remains realistic but not automatic; meeting it requires Roma and the administration to run all procedures simultaneously without significant delays.

Roma resumed training at Trigoria on 29 September with three key players absent from the session: Donyell Malen, Wesley and Bryan Cristante, all nursing minor injuries from the previous week. Malen is sidelined with a knee problem, Cristante has lower back pain, and Wesley suffered a right thigh strain in the match against Inter. All three will be assessed and gradually reintegrated into group training, with Cristante expected to return by the end of the week. Wesley and Malen should follow shortly after. Head coach Gian Piero Gasperini is already looking ahead to the major fixture on 11 October despite the upcoming Como match still some distance away. All three injured players are expected to start when fit. The squad will feature a battle for the playmaker role between Rodrigo Mora and Matías Soulé, while a defensive duel looms between Evan N'Dicka and Leonardo Balerdi. Lorenzo Pellegrini is among those in contention but is unlikely to feature from the start.

Rodrigo Mora, signed in the summer for €25 million with a further €25 million option to remove Porto's 50 per cent sell-on clause, is ready to establish himself as a regular starter in Gian Piero Gasperini's system. The Portuguese playmaker's season has been mixed: two starts in the opening three matches yielded a goal at Lecce, but he has since spent three consecutive games on the bench against Fenerbahce, Torino and Inter. Gasperini rates him highly as an exceptional talent but demands consistency and immediate responses. Mora's technical quality is evident in the numbers. He leads Roma's squad with an 80 per cent dribbling success rate, ahead of Donyell Malen at 67 per cent. His attributes fit perfectly into the 3-4-1-2 system, which suits Roma's approach against the four-man defences that dominate Serie A. The next opponent, Como managed by Cesc Fàbregas, will be a direct test of that setup. The crowded schedule ahead amplifies Mora's opportunity: between October and November, Roma will play nine matches in twenty-eight days against Como, Real Madrid, Napoli and Manchester United. With minimal margin for error in the title race and European competition, the young forward's moment has arrived. Mora is currently with Portugal Under-21, from whom he will return to Trigoria on 7 October after playing against Gibraltar and the Czech Republic. His absence from international travel across continents gives Roma easier fitness management than Matías Soulé faces. Lorenzo Pellegrini's five-month layoff and uncertain readiness to start also increase the likelihood of Mora appearing from the first minute alongside Malen and Paulo Dybala.

Rome's mayor Roberto Gualtieri has confirmed that AS Roma's new stadium at Pietralata will be ready by the end of 2029, with the foundation stone to be laid in spring 2027 — the club's centenary year. Following approval from the Conferenza dei Servizi, Gualtieri outlined the project timeline in an interview with Repubblica. The construction phase is expected to last approximately two and a half years, with the possibility that the stadium could be operational for the start of the 2029–30 season if the schedule holds. Gualtieri emphasized the rigorous planning behind the project, which differs significantly from the failed Tor di Valle scheme. "Our administration, together with Roma, has worked rigorously for four years," he said. "This work now bears fruit and realizes the dream of Viola and Sensi: a stadium owned by the society." Unlike the previous attempt, the new development focuses exclusively on the stadium, parks, and the regeneration of Pietralata without additional building beyond that scope. Gualtieri acknowledged the project's complexity, noting that "enthusiasm is not enough," referencing lessons learned from earlier setbacks. The 2027 centenary holds special significance for both the club and the city. "An important milestone for the society, the fans, and the city," Gualtieri said. "The town hall will play its part." He confirmed that laying the foundation stone during the centenary year remains certain, though he declined to preview the full commemorative programme. Before construction begins, the project verification must be completed and the tender process launched.