Group training is meant to begin tomorrow, but the Lega Serie A and Government will today try to thrash out a new medical protocol to get the season started.
The latest Government decree was signed last night and presented in Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s press conference, confirming football teams can start group training from Monday May 18.
Group training is meant to begin tomorrow, but the Lega Serie A and Government will today try to thrash out a new medical protocol to get the season started.
The latest Government decree was signed last night and presented in Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s press conference, confirming football teams can start group training from Monday May 18.
However, the medical protocol agreed by the Government and FIGC on Wednesday was rejected just 24 hours later by the Lega Serie A and Players’ Association.
They protested that mandating a 15-day quarantine for the entire group if one person tested positive for COVID-19 was excessive and would lead to the season grinding to a halt almost immediately.
The Lega Serie A and Players’ Association worked out its own protocol and presented it to the Government, with a discussion expected later today.
Meanwhile, La Gazzetta dello Sport suggests teams will begin a ‘semi-solo’ version of training, so they can pass the ball to each other, but remain at a two-metre distance.
It is hoped that the Government will accept that rather than put the entire group into quarantine if there is a positive test, they will instead isolate the individual and go for blanket swab and blood tests on the others.
Another issue should be resolved by the decree, namely holding club medics liable if one of their players or staff contracts coronavirus.
The latest legal wording would only blame medics if there was a serious error or breach of the protocol, for example not informing people that a player tested positive and allowing him to come into contact with others anyway.
Serie A and the Government remain “hopeful” the season can resume from June 13 and be concluded by the end of July.