Italian football gets rolling: Serie A set to kick start in June

The Italian Football League has been on hold since March 10 due to the devastating impact the pandemic has had on the country. June 13th had originally been touted as a potential restart date, but this was made impossible once the national lockdown was extended to 14 June.

Serie A to resume

Following discussions involving Italian Minister of Sport Vincenzo Spadafora, Serie A and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) as well as the Players Association and the Association of Italian Sports Medics, the decision to resume has been announced.

“It was a very useful meeting and, as we had said from the start, football was always going to resume when we had the conditions to ensure safety and the committee gave the go-ahead to the protocol,” said Spadafora.

“Italy is getting back on track and it is only fair that football should too. The committee agreed with the protocol but confirmed the absolute necessity for a quarantine period if a player tests positive,” Italian Minister of Sport Vincenzo Spadafora announced to Journalists on Thursday.

Updated Protocols to Address Concerns

One of the major sticking points on whether or not the league would resume or not had been testing and as such one condition of the league’s resumption would be that testing for the league “should not affect the general needs of all Italian citizens”.

One of the many protocols will include mandatory two-week quarantine for entire teams and staff for clubs where cases of the pandemic arise. Spadafora warned that the league may find itself stalled once more should there be signs of a new increase in the general cases of the virus.

Serie A was one of the first leagues to feel the effects of the worldwide pandemic as games were originally either postponed or played behind closed doors before the league found itself grinding to a halt entirely.

The league is currently led by Juventus with Christiano Ronaldo’s side eyeing a ninth straight title, one point ahead of title rival Lazio. Italian giants Inter Milan are nine points from the top with a game in hand.

As it stands, it is expected teams will play every three days between 5pm, 7:15pm and 9:30pm.

“The restart of football is a message of hope for the whole country. I am happy and satisfied,” said FIGC president Gabriele Gravina, who added that he hoped Serie B and C, as well as the women’s Serie A, also could resume.

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