Atalanta FC stadium: All you need to know about the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia

The origin of the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia

Before playing at the current stadium, Atalanta played their home games on different football grounds in its city, Bergamo. The first public home field of this Italian club was Via Maglio del Lotto which was near the Bergamo-Milan railway. Their first stadium featured a very humble capacity that could contain only 1000 spectators. 

After that, the club had to sell this stadium due to financial problems during World War I. They had another home field called Atalanta Stadium with a much larger capacity of 14,000. The inaugural game in this stadium was the match against La Dominante of Genoa. 

During the 1920s, Atalanta started to grow faster and stronger in their football career. With this fact, they needed a larger stadium to play and to host their increased numbers of fans. They built a new stadium in 1927 and the construction took one year to complete and opened in late 1928 with the recorded cost of 3.5 million lire. 

The stadium was first called Brumana Stadium, named after the fascist hero Mario Brumana, and could host 12,000 spectators but a larger field size and included two side stands. The club celebrated a win-debut in this stadium, in an unofficial match against Triestina with a 4-2 win for Atalanta. The inaugural and official game was still another win but against La Dominante Genova. The match witnessed more than 14,000 spectators from two teams.

The Brumana Stadium had its name changed twice, once after World War II, as the Stadio Comunale, and once in 1994, as the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia, meaning Blue Athletes of Italy. 

Specifications

• Location: Bergamo, Italy
• Capacity: 21,747 seats 
• Pitch size: 105 m x 68 m (344 ft x 223 ft)
• Surface material: FLexGrass (Vertix hybrid grass- 95% natural turf reinforced with polyethylene fibers)

Renovations over time

During its history, the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia has had several adjustments in its construction. After World War II, the stadium was expanded with the addition of south and north stands.

The completion of the two stands was in 1971. 13 years later, the running track was removed for the occupation of the stadium. Atalanta returned to the top-flight competition Serie A after five years playing in the lower division, and this would definitely grab the attention of more football fans. So they needed to expand their stadium’s capacity. 

After their acquisition of the stadium in 2017, Atalanta became one of four Serie A clubs to own its home ground. They also had the right to make any renovation they wanted to upgrade the stadium. Accordingly, they witnessed a record attendance in a Champions League knockout stage game between Atalanta and Valencia in 2020 with 44,236 spectators. 

The crowd of fans in the match between Atalanta and Valencia 2020 Champions League

The Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia has got another name based on its sponsorship by Gewiss company, as Gewiss Stadium since 1 July 2019. Three months later, the north and south stands were upgraded and the temporary seats were installed on the concrete. 

Atalanta also has a plan to increase their stadium to a capacity of 25,000, which is scheduled to be done in 2022 with an expected cost of about €40 million. The new underground parking garage will be included, and the surrounding, as well as the facilities of the stadium, will also be improved and upgraded.

Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia

References

Wikipedia