On 27 May, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League Final will be played in Rome. The tournament awards the most prestigious trophy in all of European football and winning it is the ultimate goal for any major football club within the continent.
It’s not clear yet who will be playing in the match. The victors of semifinal games between Barcellona-Chelsea and Arsenal-Manchester will be the teams that take to the field for a game to be played at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico (the home of A.S. Roma and S.S. Lazio) which holds some 82,000 people. Preparations and publicity are already underway and it’s expected that the Eternal City will be flooded with soccer fans for the event.
As part of the preparations, the colossal trophy was delivered to Rome’s Mayor, Gianni Alemanno, on the Birthday of Rome, 21 April, in a ceremony that took place in Rome’s city hall. Alemanno joked that it was the only trophy he’d ever one. Now, in a move that’s proving to be highly controversial, organizers and promoters have come forward with a plan to build two soccer fields that can seat some 200,000 people and are furnished with giant video screens, concession stands, portable toilets and other necessities near the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine for the event.
Archaeologists and others who worry about the monuments and the effect that hundreds of thousands of soccer fans might have upon them are opposed to the suggestion, citing the need for decorum near the ancient monuments, bans against publicity on and around Rome’s archaeological monuments, and general wear and tear as reasons that the fields should not be built.
If the plan goes forward, it won’t be the first time since antiquity that the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine have been used as backdrops for sporting events. In June 2007, a Euro title cruiserweight boxing clash took on gladiatorial overtones as it was staged on Piazza del Colosseo with the fourth-century Arch of Constantine as a backdrop. And long before that, in the 1960 Rome Olympics, the Arch of Constantine served as the finish line for an historic marathon won by the Ethiopian runner Abebe Bikila who set a new world record while racing barefoot.
We’ll keep you posted.
