Italy’s Minister for Sport and Youth Policies Vincenzo Spadafora has appeared to suggest that this coming weekend’s Derby D’Italia between Juventus and Inter at the Allianz Stadium will be played behind closed doors.
Due to the Coronavirus outbreak in Italy, where there is in excess of 200 confirmed cases of the virus, which originated in Wuhan, China, several sporting events have already been affected and further disruption looks set to be caused by it as well.
This past weekend four Serie A matches, including Inter’s at home to Sampdoria, were postponed as were several other matches at other levels.
In a bid to limit the potential spread of the virus, several Italian towns have been placed on lock down for the next fortnight with only a select few people allowed in and out of these areas.
In an interview with Italian broadcaster Rai’s show Tg2, Spadafora confirmed there are restrictions in place but some events will be allowed to still take place without spectators.
“There are already measures in place that prohibit events until next Sunday. Initially these were for the regions of Lombardy, Veneto and Piedmont and we have also extended this to the regions of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Emilia Romagna and Liguria too.
“In these regions, the ban remains on sporting events, for some events though we have given the green light for them to be carried out behind closed doors.”
