ITALY The president of the Italian FA (FIGC) is hopeful the Serie A season will return to action in July or August. Gabriele Gravina revealed that he expects the suspension of Italy’s topflight to last for at least another three months as the European nation has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic with over 7,000 deaths in Italy so far. Speaking to RadioMarte, Gravina was adamant he will do everything in his power for the 2019-20 season to return but believes the suspension will continue a lot longer than most people anticipate as UEFA’s deadline of June 30 for the season to end seems increasingly unrealistic. “For as long as I’m able to, I won’t lose hope of resuming the campaign. I’ll do anything to make that happen. I find giving up very difficult,” Gravina said. “I’m aware that it’s still too early to think of a date, but we must think positively.We’ll try our best to even play at the cost of asking for support from UEFA and FIFA to go beyond June 30, therefore also taking advantage of July and August. “Right now, there’s no room for individual interests. I plead for common sense because, ultimately, it’s the FIGC that will haveto decide. Tomorrow [Thursday], there will be a new appointment with the government to work on a series of proposals that concern some amendments, which the government will assess, but there are many other issues of our relevance. We don’t want to ask for money, but we’re denouncing a state of crisis.We ask the government to help us with a series of measures to help modernise our game.We’ll see them tomorrow, then we will meet again next week for a permanent and constant worktable, putting together indispensable ideas to form projects.—AFP
