FIGC president Gabriele Gravina has sent a letter to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte asking for professional football to be exempt from the new lockdown regulation which are expected to be announced in the coming week.
A new shutdown for Serie A would be dreadful for the clubs. During the 2019/20 season, they lost €200 million overall because games were played behind closed doors after the lockdown and the expectations for the 2020/21 season are even worse with losses estimated to be around €400m.
As reported by Corriere dello Sport, Gravina fears a new shutdown just like what happened in March when the pandemic spread uncontrolled throughout Italy and the government ordered a suspension of the game, will have grave consequences for Italy’s clubs.
Gravina’s request has technical reason too because in case of suspension, Serie A will be the only league among the top five in Europe to stop, which he feels will creating a disadvantage to all the teams and a potential problem for UEFA for Champions League and Europa League games.
Italy is expected to take new measures on Monday or Tuesday in order to control the spread of COVID-19, with 29,907 cases on Sunday and more than 30,000 new cases in the days prior.
One of those measures will be the closure of all regional borders, a decision that on paper will not allow teams to travel for away games.
