Coronavirus: April too soon for Serie A restart, says FIGC president Gravina

Turin, March 16: All options for finishing the Serie A season remain on the table but an immediate restart when lockdown conditions end next month is unrealistic, according to Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Gabriele Gravina.

The Italian government has banned all public gatherings until April 3 in an attempt to curb the spread of coronavirus, which has hit the country hard.

Recent figures show almost 25,000 confirmed cases and 1,809 deaths.

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Serie A has been put on hold amid the pandemic and football officials are considering every available avenue for concluding the league campaign.

That could include crowning champions based on results across a two-season period, using a play-off system or even not awarding the Scudetto, Gravina says.

"I cannot rule out anything," he told Radio Anch'io Sport.

"We must try to plan with the most optimistic idea: that is, to bring the championship to a close. Among the various hypotheses, I have also announced the possibility of not assigning the title, freezing the earnings or using play-offs.

"If it is not possible to complete the championship, we will take other decisions. It is not excluded that today's championship can be balanced over two different seasons.

"I understand that there is so much curiosity, so much attention in wanting to define the final end points in the best possible way, but nobody today is able to say what our future will be."

"We are sailing by sight in an atmosphere of absolute fog," he added.

"We have the [government mandates] that lead us to April 3, but it is too close a date to think of an immediate restart of all activities, not just sports.

"For this reason, I spoke of the beginning of May. Even though this is also an entirely theoretical reference date, we have to give ourselves references otherwise we risk finding ourselves unprepared."

Gravina will ask UEFA to postpone Euro 2020 when a stakeholder meeting involving key federation, league and club representatives takes place on Tuesday.

Serie A entered hiatus with defending champions Juventus holding a one-point lead over Lazio at the top of the table.