MILAN (AP) — AC Milan took the first formal step Wednesday to moving away from the iconic San Siro, which it shares with Inter Milan, and building a new stadium in the southern part of the city.

The Rossoneri announced they had filed a proposal to the council in San Donato to build a 70,000-seat stadium in the city suburb.

The move makes it even more likely that both Milan clubs — which play their home games at San Siro in the north-west of the city — will completely abandon their initial plans to build a new stadium on the same site.

“For over four years, we have embarked with conviction on a journey aimed at giving our club one of the best stadiums of the world, which is able to accompany us into a victorious and sustainable future,” Milan president Paolo Scaroni said. “This represents a preliminary step in the evolution of this process but, at the same time, it is further proof of our ownership’s commitment to guaranteeing continuous growth for AC Milan both on and off the pitch.”

Inter is also considering building a new stadium of its own in a different suburb of the city.

The beginning of the end for the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza — commonly know as San Siro — as home to two of Italian soccer’s most historic clubs was announced in 2019 when the clubs jointly unveiled two shortlisted projects for a proposed new stadium.

That was set to be in the same area but a ruling last month said the old stadium cannot be demolished, making a new one on the same site unfeasible. Costs make renovation of the existing structure prohibitive for the clubs.

San Siro was built in 1925 and is the largest stadium in Italy with a capacity of 80,000. It is set to host the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The stadium also is in line to host the Champions League final in 2026 or 2027. Only San Siro and the Puskas Arena in Budapest have been proposed to UEFA which aims to pick both final venues next year.

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