The stands of San Siro during the past Milan-Genoa.
Football in Italy also stops for the coronavirus. After days of disputes between different agencies, the Government delegated to the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), over which there is also greater political control. The president of this organization, Giovanni Malagò, gathered the representatives of the federations of the different sports and ordered that “all sports activities at all levels” be suspended until next April 3. To be completely official, however, there is a lack of a government decree, which should arrive immediately.
The decision does not affect international competitions, so Italian teams can continue in Europe. Atalanta, a team from one of the areas most affected by the coronavirus, must play this Tuesday in Valencia without an audience. While Getafe would have to go to Milan on Thursday to face Inter. Italy has no powers to act in this regard, as UEFA decides there. Italy has taken very strict isolation measures, which at the moment have not been replicated in the rest of the EU.
The date of April 3 coincides with the end, for the moment, of the restrictions approved by Italy, which prevent the free movement of movements in the region of Lombardy and other 14 provinces in the north of the country. However, with these margins, many questions remain. Will you have time to play the remaining 12 days? Would you consider terminating the championship? And in that case, would Juve, the current leader, win or be exempt? Who plays European competitions? Who goes down, what teams go up? The doubts are endless and, for the moment, nobody has an answer because there are no precedents. The Italian Football Federation, which meets on Tuesday, would be responsible for deciding on all this. Also arises the possibility of asking UEFA to delay the Eurocup. In fact, the opening match is in Rome. And the Spanish team also, depending on the first phase, could play some crossing in the Italian capital.
Pressure from the Government and the players union
Before all this, the transalpine government had already banned all sports competitions in the isolated areas of the north of the country on Sunday, a territory to which a good part of the Serie A teams belong, although it allowed the professional championships Keep going behind closed doors. The contradiction was evidenced by the Minister of Sports, Vicenzo Spadafora, who already asked for this weekend to suspend the tournament. A claim joined by the president of the Italian Association of footballers, Damiano Tommasi. «While we ask the citizens for huge sacrifices, it makes no sense to put the health of players, referees and technicians at risk», said the former footballer of the Rome Federation, League and clubs have been fighting for a couple of weeks, at times quite embarrassing.
While health experts insisted on imposing isolation measures, representatives of the football world criticized them not to let them play. Inter CEO, Giuseppe Marotta, said that «The League is falsified» and Sampdoria coach Claudio Ranieri, “football without fans is dead.” Yesterday CONI settled the matter.
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