Italian football federation president Gabriele Gravina has confirmed that resuming play on May 3 is simply just an idea for the time being.
Italian football has been on hold for a few weeks and looks to be on hold for the foreseeable future too as a result of the ongoing Coronavirus crisis and Gravina has spoken on numerous occasions lately about when the season could start up again and has always used the date of May 3.
Speaking in an interview with Italian radio station Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli earlier on today, Gravina admitted that May 3 is just one of a number of potential dates currently being thought about as dates when play could potentially resume.
“There is nothing scientific on May 3, it’s a hypothesis. We are working on some options for the calendar, but today every forecast is without foundation.
“We have to work on the hypotheses and the hypothesis of starting again on May 3 would mean the season could finish on June 30 but it is also conceivable we could start again on May 10 and 17.”
He then went on to stress that people must be realistic given the currently unprecedented situation.
“We must be realistic as there is a general crisis, and football is not the top priority. Optimistically speaking we can say that there is still a possibility of saving the season but we must be sure not to damage it.
“We want to complete this season in the best possible way, aware that we are living in a state of emergency.”
A number of potential solutions to conclude the season have been suggested in recent weeks including playoffs at both ends of the table and Gravina went on to speak about this idea.
“Playoffs are an idea but there are no established terms. This is a marginal idea compared to the conclusion of the league. If you can play with playoffs it means that some league games can be played.
“We are working and there are different ideas. The league table could be frozen or titles may not be assigned to try and safeguard the competition. Today we must be responsible.”
