Players in the Italian Serie A will be allowed to resume individual training on May 4 followed by full first team training on May 18.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has announced the first steps in lifting the lockdown in Italy and, as part of that, Serie A teams will begin to resume training.
The current hopes are that the football season in Italy will restart at the end of May, with a period between the 27th and June 2 having been earmarked as a potential window for resumption.
Italy still have the highest death toll in all of Europe, but are starting to relax measures as the curve begun to flatten.
Parks will be one of the first things to reopen, but there’s no official date for football to get back underway – even behind closed doors.
Prime Minister Conte told the nation in a televised address that players would be able “to undertake training individually from 4 May, in groups from 18 May, and then we’ll evaluate if there are the conditions to allow the season to be completed”.
He went on to say: “Right now, we need to complete all the discussions to ensure that if we do reach that stage, we’ll do so in the utmost safety and security. We are passionate about sport and don’t want our athletes to get sick.
“I’m passionate for football. Like many Italians, I initially found it strange that the championship could be interrupted or suspended but I think that even the most ardent fan understands that there wasn’t an alternative.”
Serie A is not the only European football league to be looking at a possible resumption in the near future, with the Bundesliga in Germany set for a return on May 9.
Players in the German division have been back in training for the majority of this month and, as the country relax their lockdown protocols, they look to be set for a return to action – albeit behind closed doors.
As for the Premier League, time will only tell, but it doesn’t look as though a return is on the cards at any point in the near future.
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