Coronavirus: Serie A hopes to return on June 13

Posted Thursday, May 14, 2020 by ESPN

Serie A has agreed on a June 13 resumption date following a video call with all 20 clubs in the Italian league on Wednesday.

The return is subject to government approval.

Teams are already planning to return to full team training on May 18, following government approval of the league's medical protocol in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Individual sessions have already taken place.

"As far as the resumption of sports activities is concerned, the date of June 13 for the resumption of the championship has been indicated ... in accordance with medical protocols for the protection of players and all those involved," Serie A said in a statement.

Serie A said the clubs had also called on broadcasting rights holders to "respect the payment deadlines set out in the contracts in order to maintain a constructive relationship with them."

When the league was suspended in March, Serie A giants Juventus -- who are looking to win their ninth consecutive title -- were just one point ahead of Lazio, who haven't won the league since 2000.

There is still a considerable amount of games left to be played, with 12 rounds remaining in the league along with four matches postponed earlier in the season.

The main problem to be solved for both the government and the league is how to deal with a positive test as both have different solutions.

The Italian football federation has said that isolating the player who tested positive is sufficient if the rest of the players remain negative. However, the Italian health ministry has said that the whole squad would need to go into a 14-day quarantine irregardless.

The health ministry's plan would result in chaos for fixtures if any player did test positive.

Earlier on Wednesday, Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora told the Italian Senate that the government would take its time.

"If [Serie A] resumes, as we all hope, it will be because we will have arrived at this decision after an orderly succession of actions and protocols," he said. "It is not possible to decide in an irresponsible hurry.

"Football is by its nature a sport in which it is not possible to keep distances, the players must run and agglomerate in the penalty area.

"The underestimation of this problem led a few weeks ago to the quarantine of several Serie A teams. We want to avoid finding ourselves in this situation."

In England, the Premier League could resume as early as June 1 as clubs and league officials continue to work out the details of "Project Restart."

Should the Premier League return, all games will be held behind closed doors and possibly at neutral venues. However, several top clubs have objected to the concept of neutral venues and would prefer to play in a traditional home-and-away format.

The German Bundesliga will return on May 16. France has completely cancelled its Ligue 1.

La Liga is slowly increasing the number of players allowed to train in the hopes that it can start games on June 12.

La Liga president Javier Tebas has said there will be "zero" risk for matches to be played every day when competitive football returns in Spain.

However, the return of football to Europe has hit several stumbling blocks. Five players in Spain's first and second divisions have tested positive for the virus in the past week, while the entire Dynamo Dresden squad has been forced to go into isolation ahead of the resumption of Bundesliga 2.