Players’ Association President Damiano Tommasi warns “it’s clearly impossible to start playing in April, so if all goes well, we can resume in May or June” due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Italy has more cases than any other nation in the world except for China, where the illness was first registered, as the death toll now stands at 1,809.
There were another 368 deaths over the last 24 hours in Italy, despite the country being on lockdown.
Players’ Association President Damiano Tommasi warns “it’s clearly impossible to start playing in April, so if all goes well, we can resume in May or June” due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Italy has more cases than any other nation in the world except for China, where the illness was first registered, as the death toll now stands at 1,809.
There were another 368 deaths over the last 24 hours in Italy, despite the country being on lockdown.
“It’s clearly impossible to start playing at the beginning of April,” the AIC President told Che tempo che fa.
“If all goes well, we can resume in May or June. When we talk about football, people think we are only ensuring the safety of players, but there’s a whole world behind the team. The first to be contaminated were in Serie C with Pianese, and their kit man is still in intensive care. Juventus have 100 people under quarantine.
“These are people who travel all around Italy and Europe, meeting many, many people during the course of their work. The problem is not just Italian, but European, so UEFA have to behave like the European Union.”
The FIGC (Italian Federation) will ask UEFA to postpone Euro 2020 to either December or next summer, a decision Tommasi agrees with.
“I sincerely doubt they’ll be able to play, especially as the formula this year has the games in 12 different countries with 24 teams, so playing with full stadiums in those circumstances seems improbable.”