Roma are planning to move to a new stadium in 2016, the Serie A club revealed yesterday.

The news emerged from a meeting club president James Pallotta had with the Roma players at a winter training camp. He said the new stadium will be a 60,000-seater arena to be built at Tor di Valle, inside the capital.

“This is an incredibly exciting day for all of us here and hopefully for all of Rome and all Roma fans around the world,” Pallotta was quoted as saying in the Italian media.

“This announcement has been part of our original plan for AS Roma to be a championship-calibre team for the foreseeable future. Rome deserves it. We hope Francesco Totti can score the first goal there.”

Italo Zanzi, the club’s chief executive officer, said the plan was to have the fans close to the action during matches.

“We anticipate the capacity to be around 55,000-60,000 – enough to host the Champions League final while maintaining an intimate feel and offering the fans a special experience,” he said.

“We also want to stress that it will be privately financed and based on current legislation.”

Roma and city rivals Lazio share the Olympic Stadium which is located at the Foro Italico sports complex in the north of the city.

The stadium is intended pri-marily for football and managed by the country’s National Olympic Committee.

The Olimpico has also become the home ground of the national rugby team and Italy’s national athletics venue.

Meanwhile, Roma also announced a seven-year deal with Disney to sell its merchandise in their stores and help young players to train in its scouting camps.

“On behalf of the city of Rome, I thank those who allowed the realisation of a dream that Roma fans have had for a long time,” Totti, the idolised team captain, said.

“Our supporters deserve their own stadium, entirely red and yellow.”