Vincenzo Spadafora, Italy’s Minister of Sport, was interviewed by La Repubblica and discussed a potential timeline as to when we could expect not only football, but all of sport to resume in the country following the Coronavirus crisis.
“When will we resume? I was just thinking about the guys (in Serie A)…they’re used to hugging, passing a water bottle: these are things that will have to go away for awhile. Resuming matches on 3 May is unrealistic,” he said.
“Tomorrow I will propose to extend the suspension of all sports competitions of all levels for the entirety of April. I will also extend the measure to training sessions — which we had not intervened with because there was still the possibility of the Olympics being held”.
“The world of football is in crisis and is seeking the government’s help? When I discuss sport, I am not only referring to football. Sport is not just football and football is not only Serie A”.
”I’m going to assign an extraordinary €400 million plan for grassroots sport for amateur associations in the territories”.
”From Serie A, on the other hand, I expect the requests to be accompanied by a serious desire for change: the big clubs live in a bubble, beyond their means, starting with the millions in wages they hand to players. They must understand that after this crisis – nothing can be the same as it was before”.
