Proposal to bid for Benacia Cup hosting

[V.V. Fabbri]

With this year's FMF regional tournaments' hosting bidding process having begun, I would like to suggest Tellia to be put forward for the Benacia Cup; the WMFA's signature tournament.

As winners of the last two editions of the Benacia Cup, I feel it would be highly fitting for the third championships to be held in now-independent Tellian stadiums. The 2013 Benacia Cup was held in the minuscule territory of Zeeburg, and staged in only two stadiums, so we would not need to compile a particularly large bid.

I think our lengthy history of footballing excellence will put us in good stead to successfully win this bid, and I would be happy to put it together on behalf of Tellia if we are in agreement that hosting would be a fantastic prospect for our nation!

[Giuseppe Fossone]

Sounds like a plan! Savona would like to host some fixtures if possible.

[V.V. Fabbri]

My primary thinking is that three stadiums would be a sound number to use, to allow for pitch recovery and ground staff work time between games, so we'd want to use the largest available at our disposal. I'm not sure how big the capacity of Savona's stadium is, but the city's geographical positioning would mean quite a central basis for matches among the Tellian territories.

The three that I initially had in mind are Stadio di Romero (Romero), Stadio San Felice (Fiorecittà) and DaeZoom Arena (Rossavro), but that's due to familiarity more than anything, so I definitely wouldn't rule-out using other locations, such as Savona

[Giuseppe Fossone]

Well we could always bid with four stadiums and reduce it down to three if we find that Savona isn't suitable. I'd assume that it should be though, as a former Serie A club.

[V.V. Fabbri]

That idea could work. Savona are only a small club though, so just because they used to play in Serie A, doesn't necessarily mean their ground is suitable for full international games. We can always commission an expansion though!

[Giuseppe Fossone]

As Savona are aspiring to promotion to the top flight, I think it would be an excellent idea to expand the stadium. I don't know what the current capacity is, but I think for this competition, a capacity of 30-35,000 would be more than adequate.

[V.V. Fabbri]

That sounds like a fair size stadium. As far as my knowledge stretches, a couple of the larger Serie A teams' stadiums are around the 45,000 mark, so that would certainly be fitting of an aspirant team. A smaller stadium in hosting could also be a bonus as the current field of WMFA teams would mean an almost-inevitable occurrence of two lesser-supported national teams meeting in the Benacia Cup, and having it staged in a half-filled stadium wouldn't reflect well on the involved parties at all!

[Giuseppe Fossone]

So who will submit the bid?

[V.V. Fabbri]

I'm happy to do it - I just need to find confirmation of the capacities of the stadiums above (which may be somewhere on an old, old Hub thread, if I'm lucky)...

[V.V. Fabbri]

Sorry to reply twice in the space of about three minutes, but I have found this bid from Tellia for an old edition of the World Cup. As you can see, the stadiums listed are those we have just discussed, and the capacities are also included. As the Stadio Henzelli in Savona was under construction at the time, could we assume that, as Tellia lost the bid in question, the build was scaled-back and the finished stadium seats 35,000 instead?

[Giuseppe Fossone]

Yeah, sounds good to me. I'd like to arrange a sponsorship deal for Savona's stadium if possible. Someone had to pay for the construction, as the FA wouldn't fund a losing bid

[V.V. Fabbri]

That sounds fair enough to me!