Bologna, August 23, 2026 – The journey to discover the new Bologna is about to begin and Senator Pier Ferdinando Casini has already booked his usual seat at the Dall’Ara with a good load of ambition and hopes. “I will be at the stadium with my son Francesco, who is a Lazio fan.” It will immediately be a derby of the heart in the family: “We will go together to the Dall’Ara, he in the curve with the Lazio fans and I in my seat. And considering that last year Lazio made us suffer and eliminated us from the Coppa Italia, I really hope to take revenge.”
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Pier Ferdinando Casini, Bologna has changed a lot and is all to be discovered. New coach, Castro, Lucumi and Freuler gone.
“Let’s break down the factors. I wish Italiano the best. To him as well as to Motta will go my eternal gratitude for what the last years have been. That said, something was creaking and so it’s better for everyone to start again from something new.”
The new one is called Domenico Tedesco.
“It’s a choice I like, outside the usual schemes of our football. He is a young coach, already established, international, who can open a new cycle. Patience will be needed, but I like it, not only at a football level. It seems he is quickly entering the city.”
What makes you think so?
“He shows he understands what matters to the people of Bologna, also in terms of places. In fact, on Thursday I met him going up to San Luca and I told him that too. If before I had few doubts about him being the right person, now I only have certainties.”
Some certainties, however, have gone away.
“Lucu, Castro and Freuler are three heavy sales, but I’m not shocked if Bologna has to balance the books. Saputo is not Santa Claus, anyone who puts money into a company does it with a certain approach and 40 million for Castro was hardly something to give up. But most fans understood it, otherwise we wouldn’t have reached 22,000 season ticket holders. Maybe Piccoli and Dovbyk are a bit of unknowns at the start, but recent history says that someone always explodes.”
On that note, who do you expect more from this year?
“Bernardeschi and Rowe.”
And from the new flag Orsolini?
“I’ll be frank, the back and forth on the renewal didn’t please me much and it wasn’t necessary. Then he is our captain so long live the captain.”
Allegri has placed Bologna outside the top eight in the standings, behind Inter, Napoli, Roma, Como, Juventus, Milan, Atalanta and Fiorentina. What do you say?
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“I’m not shocked, it’s the prediction everyone makes and it’s logical. It will be up to us to overturn it. We design our destiny on the field: after all, not even a child would have believed that Thiago’s Bologna could reach the Champions.”
It starts with Lazio and Atalanta.
“It’s a start that counts, difficult, even if they also have some difficulties. I believe we have an advantage.”
Which one?
“No one expects special effects from Bologna this year. We can be the outsider. In the summer friendlies I saw a still immature team, but I’m convinced we can grow.”
Can Bologna also fight for Europe?
“The fan lives on rationality, but also on hopes and dreams, so of course I believe it. Then in these days I took out of the closet the commemorative shirt of the promotion to Serie A which reminded me once again how, overturning many predictions, eleven years later Bologna returned to the football map of teams known in Europe. So yes, I believe it.”
Do you also believe in the new stadium?
“I think this is the right time and there is also this nice precedent of the Unipol Hall built for basketball: it’s the right moment. There will be a need not to abandon the Dall’Ara and a very important reconversion project will be needed along with a great competition of ideas.”
Speaking of ideas, there are new ones from Virtus and Fortitudo Baseball, other of your sports passions.
“For Fortitudo Baseball, after the last victory with San Marino, I hope for the championship. And I hope Virtus can win too, which for me is like a second skin. I have the feeling they have made a competitive team, with great mindset, despite budget limits.”
