Serie A Clubs Allowed To Start Team Training May 19

Serie A (Twitter @footballitalia)

JAKARTA - Serie A teams were allowed to continue group training starting Monday, 18 May. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte confirmed this.

Each club has been allowed to continue individual training since 4 May. Now, as part of easing further lockdown measures, Conte is giving the green light for team training that will take place next week.

"Team training will resume on May 18, including football," Conte said, as part of a speech on Saturday, May 16.

This decision made the resumption of Serie A even closer. But Conte said he and sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora had a lot to do before Italy's top competition followed the Bundesliga back in action this week.

Serie A and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) have yet to agree on the medical protocol established by the government to restore competition.

The health department wants the entire team to be quarantined for 14 days if a player tests positive, while clubs and leagues believe such action would make a return to competition impractical. They support a Bundesliga scenario in which only the individuals concerned are isolated.

"Minister Spadafora is following the situation with great care and is very responsible," said Conte.

"We have to wait for the conditions to be achieved to ensure maximum safety for the restart of the championship.

"We need more guarantees that we don't currently have."

Serie A has been sidelined since Sassuolo's 3-0 win over Brescia on March 9. Plans for a return to competition on June 13 have been contentious, while inter-regional movements remain limited until June 3.

Italy was the country hardest hit during the early weeks of the spread of the coronavirus in Europe. With a death toll of 31,763, it is the third highest in the world behind the United States and Britain.