Italian FA chief 'worried' about next season due to virus protocols

Italian football federation president (FIGC) Gabriele Gravina said on Monday he was "worried" about next season, saying that the current coronavirus protocols are impossible to apply in the long term.

"I am very, very worried about next season," Gravina told Italian radio station Rai Gr Parlamento.

"Teams will have to start preparations soon and we are very late in knowing the new procedures to follow.

"We don't know how long this state of emergency will be extended for."

Professional football returned in Italy on 20 June after a three-month lockdown, with matches played behind closed doors amid stringent protocols and tests.

Juventus were crowned Serie A champions for the ninth straight season on Sunday with two games to spare after beating Sampdoria. The current campaign ends on 2 August.

"This (current) protocol had to take into account the development of the epidemic in our country," said Gravina.

"We must continue to take it into account, but we must also be realistic – we have applied it in an emergency situation for a very short period of time, but continuing to apply it until the end of the next sporting season, with tests every four days, would be impossible.

"It would be physical violence towards players. We need to find other solutions.

"We're waiting for news from the (government) Scientific Technical Committee to understand what the new protocol will be to apply.

"We are also committed to the restart of amateur football and in this regard, I say that we don't yet know how and when to start all competitions."

Italy was the first European country to implement a lockdown due to the Covid-19 outbreak which has killed over 35 000 people in the country at the time this article was published.