JAKARTA - Serie A is reportedly considering an 'odd' play-off system to determine the Scudetto winner this season. The reason, the outbreak of COVID-19 or the corona virus has made the Italian League season chaotic.
The death toll from the corona virus in Italy has risen from 168 to 631 people with at least 10,149 confirmed cases of this virus. As a result, all sporting events in Spaghetti Country were canceled until April 3 in an announcement made on Monday.
In Serie A, Juventus are currently in top position, one point above Lazio, with Inter Milan and Atalanta in the top four. Meanwhile at the bottom, Genoa, Lecce, SPAL and Brescia are struggling to avoid relegation.
Now there are concerns that Serie A may not end the season on the right because of the coronavirus. However, Football Italia claims, Italian football president Gabriele Gravina has three solutions to determine the winners and losers of the 2019/20 season.
He stated, the first option is to establish Cristiano Ronaldo and his team-mates at Juventus as the winner of the Scudetto. Second, implementing a play-off system to determine the Scudetto winner, European qualifiers and the team that was relegated.
The third option is not to award any team the title and cancel the season.
"We hope this season can end as planned, because if we continue on April 3, certain schedules will be sacrificed to make up for this postponed game," Gravina explained, quoting The Sun, Thursday, March 12.
“I launched the play-off and play-out idea, helping to appreciate the values of sporting competition. This will involve the top four teams in the play-offs for the Scudetto and the last four in the play-outs to decide on relegation.
#SerieATIM is officially suspended. We're taking a break, but we can't wait to be back. # WeAreCalcio pic.twitter.com/xhQY33g6gV
- Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) March 11, 2020
"The FIGC will then determine who will participate in European competitions next season."
Juventus and Atalanta are still involved in the Champions League, where Atalanta managed to pocket the top 8 tickets after beating Valencia 8-4 on aggregate. Meanwhile, the match between Juventus and Lyon in the second leg of the last 16 is confirmed to be postponed following defender Daniele Rugani who is infected with the corona. As for Inter Milan and Rome, both are still in the Europa League. These two matches are confirmed to be postponed.
📃 | ANNOUNCEMENT @ UEFAcom have announced that #InterGetafe will not be played on Thursday 12 MarchThe announcement 👉 https://t.co/vzW1EeulC5#UEL pic.twitter.com/5zwU0K2AkN
- Inter (@Inter_en) March 11, 2020
As a result of the traveling restrictions between Spain and Italy imposed yesterday by the Spanish authorities, the following #UEL matches will not take place as scheduled tomorrow.🇪🇸 Sevilla - AS Roma 🇮🇹🇮🇹 Internazionale - Getafe 🇪🇸
- UEFA (@UEFA) March 11, 2020
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