SOCCER:To the surprise of many, the Italian Football Federation has opted for the southern city of Bari as the site of the Italy v Ireland World Cup qualifier on April 1st next. Although no official confirmation was available from the Federation, multiple media sources claimed that a definitive decision has already been taken to stage the game at the 58,000-capacity Stadio San Nicola.
Originally, it had been intended to stage this qualifier in Rome, but concerns that the Ireland game would be played just six weeks before the "Olimpico" was due to host the 2009 Champions League final seem to have prompted a change of plan.
Uefa president Michel Platini attended the AS Roma v Chelsea Champions League in Rome in November to check out the stadium, giving the Olimpico a full vote of confidence but expressing his concern about the possibility of "incidents" during the Italy-Ireland game.
With Rome ruled out, the game went on a mini-Tour of Italy with Florence, Genoa, Naples and Milan all being touted as possible candidates.
Italian coach Marcello Lippi was believed to have favoured Florence, while Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni apparently had expressed a wish to play in his native Milan.
Bari, however, has been chosen for two fairly obvious reasons.
For a start, the San Nicola, designed by world-renowned architect Renzo Piano and originally built for the 1990 World Cup finals, has a capacity big enough to cater for the 10-15,000 Irish fans expected to travel for the game.
Secondly, the current president of the Italian Football League, Antonio Matarrese, comes from Bari and he is believed to have lobbied hard for the game to be played in his native town.
Italy has played only three internationals at the San Nicola. The first game came when Italy beat England 2-1 to win the third-place match at the 1990 World Cup finals.
In 1997, Italy beat Turkey 5-1 in Bari to win the Mediterranean Games final whilst in April 2007, Italy beat Scotland 2-0 in a Euro 2008 qualifier in Bari.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)