Garcia pitches in as Roma make plans

"We will build a sort of new Coliseum with a modern touch," said architect Dan Mais as AS Roma unveiled the plans for their new Stadio della Roma home at the Italian capital's city hall. "It will be built especially for families – a happy oasis for fans."

The privately-financed 52,500-seater venue will be erected in the area of Tor di Valle, midway between the city centre and the airport Fiumicino, with the club's United States-based president James Pallotta hoping that it will mark a major sea change for the Giallorossi. "The city and fans deserve this, a world-class stadium," he said. "We are confident the stadium will be among the best in the world and a key driver for the club's continued success."

Roma will hope to leave their current home – the Stadio Olimpico, which they share with SS Lazio, though the owners are the Italian Olympic committee – for the new ground at the start of the 2016/17 season. The new venue will be the centre of a major shopping and leisure complex, with Pallotta explaining: "For a stadium development to be truly successful today, it must become part of the everyday fabric of people's lives. This integrated project provides such an opportunity, creates thousands of jobs – many new – and sustainable business opportunities."

Designed to be – in Roma's words – "the first truly sustainable major sports venue in Europe that incorporates a carbon neutral footprint, maximum recycling capabilities and state-of-the-art renewable energy and conservation programmes", architect Mais said of the project: "We want to reproduce the glory and the power of Rome's Coliseum. We will build a sort of new Coliseum with a modern touch. It will be built especially for families, a happy oasis for fans."

Roma plan to construct a substantial training facility near the new venue, with captain Francesco Totti explaining: "It will be a new home for all of us. We want to win and keep the Giallorossi flag waving high for a long time." Coach Rudi Garcia, meanwhile, was keen to bring the conversation back to the pitch, following a 2-1 win against Torino FC on Tuesday which kept his side in line to finish second in Serie A.

"What I like the most about our new home is the garden in the middle," the Frenchman said. "It is in this garden where we have to work hard to write new, important chapters in Roma's history."