Still unexplained
The hunt for the origins of Covid-19 has for the past four years been a tangled web of politics, power struggles, and international finger-pointing.
Italy’s sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora warned on Wednesday that the 2019-20 season of Serie A could suffer a similar fate as Ligue 1 in France and Eredivisie in the Netherlands and be cancelled amid the ongoing crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I see an increasingly narrow path for the resumption of the championship. If I were a president of a football club, I would especially think of organising myself to safely resume the next championship which will start at the end of August,” Spadafora told Italian television channel La 7.
“The decisions being taken by other countries, like France yesterday, could push Italy to follow this line too, which would then become a European line,” he added.
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The French Prime Minister on Tuesday announced that major sporting fixtures could not resume until the end of the summer. The Dutch football federation, on the other hand, had called for an end to the 2019-20 season last week.
Spadafora had earlier hinted that the top-flight football, including Serie A, would not return anytime soon but admitted that “it would be much easier to end the season immediately”.
“Resumption must be gradual. Opinion polls would like football to stop here. I’m not a person who gets influenced by opinion polls. I don’t decide along the lines of common sentiment. It would be much easier to end the season immediately and the scientific community would agree,” Goal.com quoted Spadafora as saying.
“Carrying on the world of football is a very important thing for our country, but we must do it safely. Remember when Serie A didn’t stop? How many teams have gone into quarantine? The Italian Football Federation submitted a protocol and it was considered,” he added.
Football has been suspended in Italy from March 9, leaving 12 rounds to play in the Serie A league, which was originally due to end on May 24.
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