In an interview with Italian radio station Radio Rai Uno show Radio Anch’io Lo Sport this morning, Gabriel Gravina, the president of the Italian football federation (FIGC), has spoken on the current situation football finds itself in as a result of the global Coroanvirus pandemic.
Gravina started the interview by speaking on tomorrow’s meeting that has been called by European football’s governing body UEFA with their 55 member associations and the boards of European leagues among others.
“We will ask for UEFA to act responsibly and ask all federations to protect the health of the athletes, fans and citizens of the world,” he began.
“It is not just a problem that Italy has but the whole of Europe has become the epicentre of the pandemic. We will ask UEFA to evaluate things very carefully before talking about new dates.”
He was then asked what he has made of all the suggestions that have been thrown about with regard to how seasons could be completed with suggestions ranging from just leaving things as is, null and voiding the season, finishing the season whenever possible to finishing the season with playoffs.
“There have not yet been any decisive hypotheses in this sense. I have read that the Champions League and Europa League could be decided by playoffs in May or June.
“Tomorrow we will all meet and will come to a responsible solution. At this moment, any hypothese would be unfounded, even for Serie A. We are hoping that the season will finish in the Summer.
“We are continuing to work and must think that life will continue after this tsunami. We will have to resume activity and football is a social bond that we hope returns as soon as possible.
“I believe that this pandemic will leave a mark and make us understand just how important the principles of unity, compactness and brother hood are.
“It would be bad if at every level everyone just prioritised their own interests. It would be irresponsible of the 55 federations to be egotistical.
“We will ask for uniformity but I think there is already this idea. We must take into account the atypical nature of some leagues and the conditions already set.”
Italian football is currently on hold until at least April 3 due to an Italian government decree and Gravina was then asked if he thinks it is realistic that football will resume on that date.
“We are dealing with a topic where we do not have the references of certainties to plan today. We are sailing on sight in an atmosphere of absolute fog.
“We have references from ordinances that lead us to April 3. I am convinced that it is a date too close to start again in the sport and economic activities of the country. It is no coincidence that I spoke of a restart for us in early May, but that is also a completely theoretical date.
“We must go on day by day. With great honesty we asked and I hope to be able to postpone the tax obligations. It seems to me that we have managed to enter the first draft as a sector in an area of crisis.
“The world of sport is important for the country. There is a lot of sensitivity and I have to thank the ministers Gualtieri and Spadafora who follow our critical issues. Now it also depends on us.
“Coronavirus will affect all football clubs. We must aim to maintain the Italian sports system and we can also do so with the collaboration of our main stakeholders. We need players and coaches to show solidarity they can help make our world stronger.”
In conclusion, he returned to speak about ways the season could be completed.
“Right now I am not able to exclude anything. We must try to plan with the most optimistic idea, which is to complete the season.
“I do not exclude anything so much so that among the hypotheses I also mentioned the non-assignment of the title or the assignment of the title using the current standings.
“I understand that there is a lot of curiosity regarding how leagues will be finished but nobody can say what tomorrow will be like due to the current conditions.
“There are several hypotheses. We now have to think of so many people who are suffering, it is also embarrassing to talk about these issues.
“The Coppa Italia? We are not really talking about it as you may have noticed. We will deal with that later. We are prioritising the leagues at the moment.”
