Serie A in talks with Italian govt over resumption

Inter Milan and Juventus players compete in an empty stadium due to the novel coronavirus outbreak during the Italian Serie A football match between Juventus and Inter Milan, at the Juventus stadium in Turin. 

Serie A hopes of following Germany and Spain back onto the pitch will be decided on Thursday during a meeting with the Italian government which will determine the fate of the season in football-mad Italy.

Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora will tell Italian football federation and Lega Serie A bosses if the health conditions are right to return after nearly three months.

The Italian season has been on hold since March 9 amid the coronavirus pandemic which has killed almost 33,000 people in the country.

Football clubs returned to group training on May 19 but competitive action remains suspended until mid-June.

Indications are that Spadafora and the government’s Scientific Technical Committee will agree to both the health protocol proposed and to start the season again.

In the case of a favourable decision on Thursday, Lega Serie A have scheduled a meeting for Friday morning to examine “the different calendar hypotheses” for the remaining Serie A and Italian Cup matches.

Lega Serie A bosses want competition to resume on the weekend of June 13-14, starting with four postponed fixtures — Atalanta-Sassuolo, Verona-Cagliari, Inter Milan-Sampdoria and Torino-Parma.

They hope the season would resume fully on June 20, with the goal of awarding the league title, defining promotions and relegations, before playing Italian Cup semi-finals, with the final in early August.