Former Italian national team doctor Enrico Castellacci has shared his belief that the FIGC, the Italian football federation, could be forced into having to stop football entirely due to the outbreak of Coronavirus in the country.
There are now over 200 confirmed cases of the virus across Italy with the virus leading to the deaths of four people at time of publication.
Coronavirus has already caused havoc for sporting events with several of them postponed this past weekend, including four Serie A matches among many many others in the lower leagues.
Due to the outbreak, that has led to many towns being placed in lock down, reports have suggested that upcoming matches could well be played behind closed doors in a bid to limit the potential spread of the virus.
“The problem is quite complex. We must first consider what the priorities are in Italy at the moment and football is not a priority but keeping the virus under control is,” he explained in an interview with Italian radio station Radio Sportiva earlier on today.
“It may make sense to play behind closed doors if this virus remains limited to where it is at this time, but I think there will be a development and other regions will be affected.
“I hope it does not come to this but I think that at some point the football association will have to think about stopping the league entirely because of the Coronavirus. I believe it is not a completely outlandish hypothesis.”
In conclusion he spoke on what the outbreak could mean for some clubs who have European competition commitments in the coming week: “The teams that will have to play in Europe may have problems, some evaluations need to be made for preventive purposes.”
