The fans of Team Altamura, a club that returned to professional football 27 seasons after the last time, had thought in recent weeks that they could face Bari in the next Serie C championship in a derby that would be historic. The salvation of the red and whites in the Serie B playouts thanks to the 3-0 on the Ternana pitch prevented this eventuality, but the Murgian team could play at San Nicola anyway.
The approval given by the City Council to the start of the infrastructure works to adapt the Tonino D’Angelo stadium to the requests of the Lega Pro will force Altamura to start the next Serie C championship in another sports facility. To complete the interventions, which will concern turf (transition from natural to artificial grass, changing rooms, stands, light towers, services, medical rooms and press room, it will take at least 100 days from the delivery of the works, scheduled for the end of June, so by 4 June the club must indicate when registering an alternative stadium to the D’Angelo in which to play the first home matches of the 2024-2025 football season.
With Andria, Barletta and Taranto excluded for environmental reasons, with Potenza set aside due to the co-presence of Sorrento at Viviani, the San Nicola hypothesis has gained ground in the last few hours. The Bari stadium would entail expensive costs, but would allow the presence of the public in the stands. A possibility that the municipality of Francavilla Fontana would deny: the Nuovarredo Arena, the stadium that hosts Virtus, would be accessible to Team Altamura but behind closed doors for reasons of public order. At the moment the Nardò, Brindisi and Picerno options are more secluded.
The race against time at Team Altamura has started and the club has advocated the intervention of the municipal administration to find a solution while waiting for the D’Angelo to be redeveloped according to the criteria required by the Lega Pro. «It is requested with extreme urgency the intervention of political forces – is the appeal of the management – in order to find an immediate solution to the problem, also consulting the various police headquarters considering the imminent deadlines. We cannot risk throwing away years of sacrifices on the part of clubs and an entire fan base who have fought hard to achieve this great goal. We need immediate certainties.”
: the stadium on the Murgia will be adapted for the new championship){kind=link}