Napoli join Roma bid for 2036 Olympics, says city sports chief

Napoli and Roma are working on a joint bid to host the 2036 Olympics, according to Emanuela Ferrante, the Naples city council's assessor for Sport and Equal Opportunities.

C'è questo altro sogno nel cassetto al quale si sta lavorando in modo serio, in modo istituzionale, ci sta lavorando il CONI nazionale, che è quello di immaginare di poter candidare Napoli insieme a Roma alle Olimpiadi 2036.

CONI, Italy's national Olympic committee, is already involved at an institutional level, she said.

Before that, there is a much nearer target. Ferrante repeated her confidence that the Diego Armando Maradona stadium will be chosen as a venue for Euro 2032.

Sono certa che Napoli figurerà tra questi stadi, anche perché le amministrazioni comunale e regionale hanno messo in campo un grande sforzo economico anche per la riqualificazione dello stadio, per renderlo evidentemente accessibile, renderlo adeguato a quelle che sono le regole UEFA.

Her comments came on the same day that Cipess, meeting at Palazzo Chigi, released €150m in state funding for the Maradona's renovation, with works planned from January 2027 to December 2029. That funding makes her confidence on UEFA compliance look less like wishful thinking.

Ferrante linked the Olympic ambition directly to the city's recent sporting record, citing the "extraordinary results" of the America's Cup preliminary regattas as the first real evidence that Naples can host a major international sporting event.

There is still a clear gap between these institutional announcements and what Napoli the club has yet to prove it can deliver itself. On the Qualiano training ground project, the club has spent months chasing a notary signing that has not arrived. Angelo Forgione had already warned on that exact point: the club does not have the resources to build a stadium and a training centre at the same time. Bidding for the Olympics alongside Roma is a project for the city council and CONI, not a direct commitment from SSC Napoli — the distance between the Olympic dream and the stalled paperwork on agricultural land in Fuorigrotta tells two very different stories of pace.

The next concrete step remains Euro 2032: official confirmation of Napoli's candidacy is expected within hours.