Serie A players set to resume training on Monday
Germany’s interior minister backs proposal to restart Bundesliga
Rome/Berlin: Serie A clubs are in limbo with several regions of Italy allowing players to begin practicing on an individual basis at training centres on Monday while the government has set a May 18 return to the practice field for teams.
Sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora is seeking clarification from the government’s techno-scientific coronavirus commission.
Emilia-Romagna, Campania, Lazio and Sardinia have each given the go-ahead for teams in their regions to begin individual training. Those regions contain eight Serie A clubs: Bologna, Sassuolo, Spal, Parma, Napoli, Lazio, Roma and Cagliari.
Serie A has been suspended since March 9, when the government ordered a nationwide lockdown.
The government announced a week ago that individual athletes can resume training on May 4, while teams can restart May 18.
Meanwhile, Germany’s minister for interior Horst Seehofer has supported the proposed day for resumption of football in the country. German Football League (DFL) Chief Executive Christian Seifert had earlier said they are hoping to restart league football in the country on May 9 provided they get the green light from the government.
Seehofer stated he finds the proposal ‘plausible’ considering all the requisite government guidelines are followed by the officials and players.
“I find the schedule proposed by the German league plausible and I support the restart in May,” Horst Seehofer was quoted as saying by Bild.
“If there is a case of coronavirus in a team or its management, the club as a whole, and eventually also the team against which it last played, must go into quarantine for two weeks.
“There will continue therefore to be risks for the schedule of matches and for the classification, if there is any contamination,” he added.
The entire sporting calender of the world has been shredded due to coronavirus pandemic and football is no different.
Leagues in Netherlands, Belgium and France have been called off while other nations like England, Italy, Spain and Germany are battling hard to salvage their respective seasons.