Italian sport to take place without fans until April 3
Daniella Matar | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 10 months AGO
FILE - The seats are empty as a precaution against the coronavirus at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, during the Europa League round of 32 second leg soccer match between Inter Milan and Ludogorets on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. (Emilio Andreoli, UEFA via AP, File)
People walk outside San Siro stadium where a notice advising that the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Genoa is postponed to May 13, 2020, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, March 1, 2020. In Lombardy, the hardest-hit region by the spread of the Coronavirus, schools and universities were ordered to stay closed, and sporting events were canceled.(Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP)
Spectators have their temperature measured as they enter the Via Del Mare Stadium in Lecce, Italy, Sunday, March 1, 2020 prior to the Serie A soccer match between Lecce and Atalanta. (Donato Fasano/LaPresse via AP)
Inter Milan soccer team's CEO Giuseppe Marotta leaves following an Italian Soccer League's meeting in Rome, Wednesday, March 4, 2020. Amid a global health crisis, Italian soccer teams and Serie A's governing body are squabbling with each other about when to play games with Inter Milan chief executive Giuseppe Marotta saying the season even runs the risk of being unable to finish. (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP)
Lazio soccer team's CEO Claudio Lotito, center, leaves following an Italian Soccer League's meeting in Rome, Wednesday, March 4, 2020. Amid a global health crisis, Italian soccer teams and Serie A's governing body are squabbling with each other about when to play games with Inter Milan chief executive Giuseppe Marotta saying the season even runs the risk of being unable to finish. (Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP)
MILAN (AP) — All sporting events in Italy will take place without fans present for at least the next month due to the virus outbreak in the country, the Italian government announced on Wednesday.
That will likely see the Italian soccer league resume in full this weekend after the calendar was pushed back a week.
Italy is the epicenter of Europe's coronavirus outbreak. More than 100 people have died and more than 3,000 have been infected with COVID-19.
The Italian government issued a new decree on Wednesday evening, with measures it hopes will help contain the spread of the virus.
All sporting events throughout the country must take place behind closed doors until April 3. Schools and universities have been ordered to close until March 15.
Key games during the period includes Juventus' Champions League game against Lyon. The second leg of the round-of-16 match is scheduled for March 17 in Turin.
Inter Milan and Roma also have Europa League games scheduled, against Getafe and Sevilla, respectively. Inter played Ludogrets inside an empty stadium last week in the previous Europa League round.
The decree also calls into question Italy’s Six Nations rugby match against England in Rome on March 14. That match will either have to go ahead behind closed doors or be postponed. Italy’s match against Ireland, which was scheduled for March 7, had already been postponed.
In tennis, Italy is set to play South Korea in a Davis Cup qualifier this weekend in Cagliari, Sardinia.
The Italian soccer league's governing body has yet to release a revised schedule but reports say the six Serie A soccer matches that were postponed last week will now be played this weekend. That includes one of the biggest matches of the season — the Juventus-Inter game, known as the “Derby d’Italia” or Italy’s derby.
Four Serie A matches went ahead last weekend with fans present as they were taking place in areas that had not been affected by measures to control the outbreak.
A decree on Sunday extended the suspension of all sporting events in Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna until March 8.
The region of Lombardy is the epicenter of Italy’s outbreak and there are further clusters in the other two northern regions.
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