2026 Winter Olympics: The late Milan Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena hosts the first game

After beset by delays, concerns and last-minute construction work, Milan’s Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena finally opened its doors to the Olympics on Thursday.

While the IOC admitted it was not quite ready for its opening match, the stadium was in much better condition than when BBC Sport visited five days ago.

The stadium, which has a capacity of 11,800, was almost full for the Group B match between Italy and France, which is participating for the first time in the Olympics, which the host country won 4-1.

On the Saturday before the game, we found a hectic construction site, with building materials and dust inside and outside the stadium.

Rubbish was strewn on the ground, elevators and toilets were covered in plastic wrap, and many areas of the arena were not finished, including hospitality boxes and food and drink kiosks.

“Is all the space in this place completed? No. Is everything needed in this place,” Christophe Dube, the International Olympic Committee’s executive director for the Olympic Games, admitted on Sunday. [for the matches to take place]? no.”

When we returned on the morning of the first game – about three hours before the match – we found piles of rubble and building materials gone from the halls inside and out.

Not all amenities were quite ready, as merchandise kiosks had been built and posters still needed to be put up. This was just over three hours before the opening match.

Inside the stadium, one side of the field was just a large black wall. Temporarily standing above what would eventually become a concert venue, this house was intended to contain large hoardings bearing the Olympic branding.

In the stands, it was very dusty and dirty. The arena looked like new construction, hastily completed without much spit-and-polishing.

Around the stadium, it is an actual construction site. The square stands almost alone in a wasteland, a 25-minute walk from the nearest metro station and without any amenities, except for a nearby car park. Bella Italia this is not.