Gabriele Gravina, the president of the Italian football federation (FIGC), has revealed that the idea is to resume the 2019/20 Serie A season at the end of May if not the beginning of June.
Serie A has been on hold for a number of weeks now as a direct result of the ongoing global Coronavirus pandemic and it remains unknown whether circumstances will allow for the season to resume again or if it will just have to be cancelled.
“Until April 18 there should be lock down and there is the idea of starting up again on May 20 or the first week in June. These are only ideas but we want to give a message of hope to all citizens even if we know that football is in second place to the virus at the moment,” he told Italian radio station TMW Radio earlier on today.
Gravina then went on to stress that he does not want to finish this current season at the expense of affecting seasons to come.
“Can we start again after these dates? There are two factors in this. The first is government ordinances and the second is that UEFA and FIFA allow us to go beyond June 30.
“There is talk of being able to play into August or September but I have made it clear that I would be sorry to take the risk of compromising another season in order to save this one.
“We are attentive and respectful of what is going on and today nobody can make any predictions but we have a duty to plan.”
He then went on to insist that there are no deadlines in place as far as start and finish dates are concerned but the priority for FIGC remains getting the season finished somehow.
“There is no definitive date, neither for the start nor for the finish. The top priority is to finish the season and today the decision has been taken, to move the window for the national teams matches, which frees up June 1-9.
“We have additional time to complete the national events. Starting at the end of May and playing until the middle or end of July would be what I would like so that I would have plenty time to plan next season.”
In conclusion he discussed the possibility of carrying out the remainder of the season at neutral venues.
“It is not a good solution, but it is an idea and it is one which we are working on. We are trying to identify four or five venues, just like UEFA is trying to define different formats not so much for this season, but for those that will follow.”
