Juventus' recent shareholder meeting approved a share capital increase of around €300 million for "investments aimed at maintaining our sport competitiveness".
Among these is a project for a small stadium, with a capacity of 3500-5000 seats, to be built in the close vicinity of the male team's Allianz Stadium in lieu of the disused PalaTorino.
The new ground will host the Under 23 and female teams, which have since their inception been playing in less-than-adequate venues. The female team currently stage their home fixtures in a 400-capacity stadium at Vinovo (15 km from Turin) and their European matches in Novara (96 km from Turin), while the U23 team play their matches at the Moccagatta stadium in Alessandria (100 km from Turin), with an average attendance of 193.
President Andrea Agnelli said: "We are aware that the female and Under 23 teams deserve adequate venues for their home matches. Investments are underway to finally give them a home, so that they can play in Turin and not in Alessandria or Novara."
Juventus Women was founded in 2017, as Italian giants Juventus acquired the license of female club Cuneo Calcio and turned it into a top-notch Serie A team. As their male counterparts, currently tipped by Oddschecker as frontrunners for the Serie A title, Juventus Women are top contenders in the female league. They have won two Serie A titles and are on track for third consecutive one. They currently sit top of the league, 6 points above second-placed Fiorentina, after 10 matches.
Founded in 2018, Juventus' U23 team play in Serie C, the third tier of Italian football. Much like youth teams in other countries (such as Barcelona B or Real Madrid Castilla) they cannot play in the same division as the senior team, making them ineligible for promotion to the Serie A.
In Juventus' plans, the creation of a central hub for all teams would generate bigger interest and attendance. It would also allow fans to live entire days of bianconero football by having the female team or the U23 play in the early afternoon, just before the male team.
The female team is the one that would benefit the most from a move to Turin, as women's football has been gaining traction and visibility in Italy of late. Last March Juventus' decision to host one of their matches at the Allianz Stadium drew in more than 39,000 spectators, a record figure for women's football.
Construction of the new ground would call for the demolishment of PalaTorino, a now-closed indoor sports arena. PalaTorino was inaugurated in 1994 and hosted concerts and indoor sporting events. Since the opening of the larger Palaolimpico for the 2006 Winter Olympics the PalaTorino was rarely used, and the city of Turin decided to close it in 2011.
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