New Juve stadium inspires fans to sign up

Juventus fans have been flocking in their thousands to snap up season tickets for the upcoming campaign in the club's new stadium. Juve spent the last five years playing at the Stadio Olympico in Turin since leaving their former Stadio delle Alpi home, which they bought from the local council in 2003, in order to rebuild a stadium on that site. And now 23,000 people have bought season tickets for the 41,000-capacity stadium, an increase of 56 percent on last season's figure of 14,600 season ticket holders. The new stadium will be inaugurated on September 8, when it's official name will be revealed, just three days before its first Serie A match when Parma will be the visitors. Despite being the best-supported club in Italy, on average Juve only filled one third of the 67,000-capacity Stadio delle Alpi. The Stadio Olympico wasn't much more popular with Juve rarely filling out the 28,000-seater stadium which they shared with city neighbours Torino, who will remain there. But the new stadium is more intimate than the old Stadio delle Alpi as there is no running track, meaning fans will be closer to the action. It also has improved facilities, such as a shopping complex built into it and parking space for 4,000 vehicles.