Italian Minister of Sport Vincenzo Spadafora discussed the restart of Serie A and the controversy surrounding the FIGC’s protocols in an interview with Italian media outlet CasaNapoli.net yesterday.
“The FIGC wrote to us last Wednesday before 4 p.m. saying that they accepted the observations of the CTS. Then something did not go well within the world of football.”
He then revealed how the FIGC and Lega Serie A didn’t agree about the return protocols.
“FIGC and the Lega confronted each other and obviously were not aligned on adherence to this protocol. I received the formal letter, in which I was told that the protocol was fine.
“Self-isolation was put to me by the President of the League and FIGC at least a month ago. If they have now reconsidered or verified that not all teams have suitable traincing centres, this does not concern me.”
Spadafora expressed his disappointed that there wasn’t a common line between all European leagues, with some like Ligue 1 being fully cancelled whilst others like the Bundesliga have already been restarted.
“It must be said, however, that all countries have dealt with the emergency in a different way. Different numbers of infected, different rules for the resumption of the season.
“We have looked to the German model for the resuming the leagues, it provides for the protocol with a lower number of days of isolation compared to 14, but then we saw that this was more a wish than a protocol.”
The Minister of Sport discussed how a player was put into isolation and how there are no clear guidelines on how to deal with this situation.
“We saw the first case a few days ago in the German second tier team, he was quarantined for 14 days. However, the health authorities considered it appropriate that isolation for a few days was not enough but to quarantine everyone for fourteen days.
“So, let’s tell the truth, in the end nobody has absolute certainty about how to manage a situation that is completely new for us, for Italy but also for the whole world.”
Spadafora spoke about how it was important to stay calm and attempt to find solutions that work well for everyone, including the players themselves.
“I would invite everyone to be calmer. In essence, the world of football is asking us to move forward or for us to be the ones to be responsible for not going ahead with the season with all the issues of TV rights that entails. Footballers are also trying to contact me to tell me their concerns. Others can’t wait to start tomorrow morning.”
Finally, Spadafora discussed the seriousness of restarting the league and how the process can’t be rushed, considering how quick the virus could turn into an emergency again.
“This difference in position does not seem to me an inconsistency of the government but rather a complexity of something that we are all facing for the first time.
“So I would invite everyone not to say that we are creating chaos, but instead see that we are moving ahead with caution and we are trying to do everything possible at the right time, to avoid the worst thing that everything would restart and then in two or three weeks the whole country would be forced to stop, not just football. That, even psychologically, would be the most devastating thing for everyone.”
