The finish line has been moved up a few weeks. The tender for the new stadium will not be published on Thursday, August 20th, as originally planned: the new date is set for September 15th. This delay of just under a month was necessary to complete the project review (a mandatory step required by stadium law), which should not jeopardize the race for Euro '32. "The rescheduling," explains Giuseppe Macciotta, Councilor for Sport, "had already been formalized by the administration when Cagliari presented its bid to host the European Championships on July 31st."

So, there's no need to worry: "The city remains fully engaged," the councilor assures. "The tender represents a fundamental step toward the construction of the new stadium, over which the administration has limited authority," he explains. "The administration has already prepared the tender specifications and all the documents; we're just waiting for the project to be validated by the company in charge, which has already made some observations, which the designers are addressing in order to adapt the project to the requirements," and to allow the offices to publish the tender, he adds. The new date set on the calendar is thus mid-September. Once the project is approved, the City Council will be able to proceed immediately with the publication. Because, on the administrative front, Palazzo Bacaredda assures, the machinery is already in place.

The postponement, therefore, is due to a mandatory technical step . This was "expected," so much so that the administration had anticipated it immediately after the City Council's pronouncement on the public interest of the project. The new schedule, however, represents another delicate step in the long process of the new stadium. The deadline for the tender is one of the key junctures in transforming the project into a construction site and, simultaneously, keeping Cagliari on track for Euro 2032.

For Palazzo Bacaredda, the postponement doesn't change the situation. Nor does it affect Sports Minister Andrea Abodi, who expressed optimism on the pages of Unione Sarda and saw the finish line within reach . If this is the case, it must be said, a great deal of credit goes to the Municipality, which has accelerated the game in just over a year.

"I reiterate the central and essential role played by the administration in all its components," states Councilor Macciotta. "First and foremost, the officials from the various offices, then the City Council and the mayor, of course, but also the entire civic assembly, including the opposition, were decisive. From the fusion of these energies," he concludes, "the Municipality has intervened on a path that had been stalled for ten years and which has been unblocked in just over a year."

The calendar, therefore, extends by a few weeks. But the road to the new stadium has never been so short.

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