In football’s absence we’re left to discuss purely quantitative things: the 25-point gap between Liverpool and Manchester City, the number of days between now and a hypothetical restart of the season, the amount of money that everyone’s losing during the shutdown, etc.
The Serie A season could be extended to September or October, the head of the Italian FA (FIGC) said on Sunday, warning that there could be an "avalanche of litigation" if it was not settled on the field.
Serie A has been suspended since March 9 because of the coronavirus pandemic which has claimed 15,887 lives in Italy, almost a quarter of the global death total. Several club presidents have suggested that the season should be called off.
After appearing at its first Women’s World Cup in 20 years and advancing to the quarterfinals, Italy has further established itself as a growing power in the women’s game by winning its first six qualifiers on the road to Euro 2021 (likely becoming Euro 2022).
After Antonee Robinson’s rumored AC Milan move to become one of the few Americans to play in Italy’s first division fell through, we at The18 were reminded of the last USMNT defender to appear for the Rossoneri — Oguchi Onyewu.
Onyewu’s story is a cautionary tale for any American playing abroad, and a reminder that nothing in sports is a given, even if you want it so bad you break a legend’s rib fighting for it.
Italy's sports minister said he will propose extending the ban on all competitions to the whole of April in an effort to contain the coronavirus. The death toll from the coronavirus rose past 10,000 in Italy on Saturday, a figure that made an extension of a national lockdown almost certain.
"Re-starting matches ... is unrealistic. Tomorrow I will propose to extend the ban on all sports competitions, of all levels and types, to the whole of April," Vincenzo Spadafora told daily La Repubblica in an interview.
Football clubs in Europe are among the wealthiest organizations in the world. They toss around nine-figure transfer fees like it’s nothing while charging exorbitant prices for entry into their stadiums.
And yet, these same clubs who regularly lead the list of richest sports teams in the world have been among the first to claim they don’t have money to pay their players as soccer has screeched to a halt amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Juventus forward Paulo Dybala, one of the highest-profile players to be infected with the coronavirus, has started training again after recovering from the illness which he said left him struggling for breath.
Dybala is one of three players at Juventus who have tested positive for the virus alongside defender Daniele Rugani and midfielder Blaise Matuidi, a World Cup winner with France in 2018. Players at other Serie A clubs have also tested positive.
Cristiano Ronaldo and football agent Jorge Mendes joined forces on Tuesday to donate lifesaving equipment to Portuguese hospitals struggling to treat patients with coronavirus. The two will donate equipment for two wards at Lisbon's Santa Maria hospital, providing the wards with 10 beds each, ventilators, heart monitors, infusion pumps and syringes, the hospital said in a statement.
Serie A surprised fans in February when it began postponing matches because of COVID-19. Postponement soon became protocol. The Match Day 25 fixture between Inter Milan and Sampdoria was the first of a long list of postponed matches to come. Two weeks later, Italy’s Prime Minister announced all sports in the country would be postponed.
ROME — Italian soccer clubs, players and fans have banded together to raise millions of euros to support the country’s stretched health system amid the devastating coronavirus outbreak.
Thursday was one of the bleakest days in Italy’s battle against COVID-19 as the death toll rose to 3,405, overtaking China as the highest number of fatalities from the disease in one country.
A state of nationwide lockdown remains in place as the government looks to control the spread of the virus and all sports events have been suspended since March 9.