Serie A 2019-20 risks having to stop prematurely because of the Coronavirus outbreak, which would be the first early finish since World War I in 1915, and a potential repeat of that Lazio protest.
The Coronavirus outbreak has put football on hold in Italy and has started to affect the rest of the European leagues as well.
Only once previously has the top division in Italy been forced to stop early because of external forces, the aforementioned season in 1915.
Serie A 2019-20 risks having to stop prematurely because of the Coronavirus outbreak, which would be the first early finish since World War I in 1915, and a potential repeat of that Lazio protest.
The Coronavirus outbreak has put football on hold in Italy and has started to affect the rest of the European leagues as well.
Only once previously has the top division in Italy been forced to stop early because of external forces, the aforementioned season in 1915.
Earlier this week, Lazio spokesman Arturo Diaconale claimed that the fans don’t have to worry about a reprise of the denied Scudetto of 1915, carrying on a Lazio tradition of claiming they have been deprived of their third League title.
The Scudetto of 1915 was unassigned for years during the war and the discussion regarding the true and rightful owner of the title still exists over 100 years later.
It was eventually awarded to Genoa, but Lazio continue to contest the decision, as the Italian government declared war on the Empire of Austria and Hungary, forcing the regionalised precursor to our current one-division Serie A to stop.
On Sunday May 23, 1915, the same day as the scheduled matches between Genoa-Torino and Milan–Inter were to determine the outcome of the Northern category of Italian football, Italy declared they were ready to enter the war.
Lazio were already in the Final after winning the Southern category and were only waiting for the second qualified team from the northern regions of Italy.
Genoa topped the table on seven points, followed by Torino and Inter on five and Milan on three, but the matches were never played.
The Biancocelesti might still have a case over 100 years later, as it is not clear when the Scudetto was assigned to Genoa, because they never found any official documents stating that the Rossoblu had been awarded the trophy, but reports claim it could be anywhere between 1919 and 1929.
The tale implements that the Grifone were handed the championship, according to testimonies from the time, because of their superiority over Lazio on paper.
Even though the Final between the Rossoblu and the Biancocelesti never took place, history shows Genoa winning the showdown.
Diaconale has made it clear that Lazio still pursue the trophy, to help them equal their arch-rivals Roma’s record of three Scudetti.
The Biancocelesti won in 1974 and later in 2000 and have repeatedly been asking for the trophy of 1915 to be awarded to them, at least as joint winners with Genoa.
In 2019-20 we are in the middle of more uncertainty on how the season will end, and Lazio awkwardly sit one point behind Juventus in the middle of a suspended campaign and another possible interruption.