In an interview with Italian radio station Radio Rai 3 show Chi l’ha visto last night, Italian minister for sport and youth policies Vincenzo Spadafora has admitted the idea of the 2019/20 season resuming at the beginning of May is too optimistic.
Football and all other sporting activity across Italy has been on hold for a few weeks now and will continue to be until at least April 3 as a result of the ongoing global Coronavirus pandemic.
However, due to the currently ever changing situation it looks highly unlikely that any sporting activity in the country will take place anytime around that date.
Italian football federation president Gabriele Gravina has suggested the date of May 3 to resume whilst May 10 and May 17 have also been suggested as dates when the season could potentially resume.
“The forecasts that made us think we could resume sports competitions in late April or May, have been too optimistic given the evolution of the health emergency,” Spadafora began the interview.
“I can say for certain that, if the resumption of sporting events will exist, it will certainly start again behind closed doors.
“It’s not possible to think otherwise, but I also have some doubts with respect to the date of May 3. Unfortunately, this medical emergency is constantly related to its evolution. We have to adapt our decisions very often to the epidemic.”
He then went on to suggest that ultimately the final decision will come down to the Italian football federation.
“The final choice will be down to the FIGC, but it’s unlikely that it will be able to resume in the beginning of May. The Federation might decide to postpone the games until the late summer, I have read suggestions about July and August, but the situation is complicated.
“After all, the rest of the footballing world has given us some more time to understand the emergency and now I imagine it will move forward with the necessary caution.”
