San Siro’s last dance at 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics will take place today at the Stadio Meazza in Milan, ‘the final milestone’ for ‘the stadium that Milan and Inter are about to leave,’ wrote Gazzetta.

Milan and Inter’s Stadio Meazza will host the opening ceremony of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics today, Friday, February 6, starting at 20:00 CET (19:00 GMT).

The Winter Olympics understandably dominate today’s sports coverage in Italy, and the world of football is also involved in the event.

“The opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics will be one of the final milestones in a century-long history for the stadium that Milan and Inter are about to leave,” Gazzetta wrote on Friday.

Inter and Milan, in fact, have recently agreed to buy the entire San Siro area from the Milano City Council and are expected to abandon the Stadio Meazza from 2030.

The plan is to build a new stadium in the huge car park near the Meazza, so the two Milanese sides will continue to play inside the old arena until works for their new home is completed.

Some reports suggest that the majority of the Stadio Meazza will then be demolished, except for the South-East corner of the existing stadium.

It’s unlikely that the Stadio Meazza will host any other major sports event as it has already failed UEFA tests to be a host venue at EURO 2032, which Italy will co-host with Turkey. The new stadium, however, will comply with requirements and will be a host venue if works are completed in time.

Inter President Beppe Marotta said earlier this week that Nerazzurri and Milan hope the new stadium is ready in 2030.

Preparations for the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony made the Stadio Meazza unavailable this week, so Inter had to play their home Coppa Italia game against Torino in Monza earlier this week, while Milan’s Serie A match against Como has been postponed to February 18.