Sampdoria's match fixtures with
Hellas Verona has become the sixth match in Seria A this week to be postponed, just
as the coronavirus outbreak disrupt most
country's football calendar.
In a statement, the league
management said that the match had been rescheduled for May 13 alongside the
five other games from this week's round that had already been postponed due to
the spread of the COVID-19 virus, which has killed 34 and infected over 1,600
people in the country.
Among
the postponed fixtures was the Juventus' huge clash with title rivals Inter
Milan in Turin, originally scheduled to be the titan clash match on Sunday
evening.
The
decision from Serie A came just hours after the president of Samp's home region
Liguria told reporters that the match would be played behind closed doors
following a summit by regional government, health and civil protection
officials.
It
also follows shortly after the Italian government signed a decree that stops
sporting activity in the northern regions of Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia
Romagna (and two other provinces in Liguria and Le Marche) which have been
worst hit by the virus until March 8, unless it is held behind closed doors.
Juventus
then confirmed that the decree means fans not from those areas will be able to
travel to the Allianz Stadium in Turin to watch the second leg of their Italian
Cup semi-final with AC Milan on Wednesday.
On
Sunday, Serie A also announced that it has called an emergency meeting for
Wednesday in which discussions will be held on how to manage the fixture chaos.
The
league now has 10 matches to reorganise after four were postponed from last
week's round, and the government's decree means another five next week can only
be played behind closed doors.
Reports
in Italy suggest that Serie A clubs are trying to convince the league to find
individual dates for each match rather than play them all on May 13.
Other
sports in Italy have also been hit hard by the spread of the coronavirus.
A
Six Nations rugby match between Italy and Ireland in Dublin on March 7 has been
called off, and the alpine skiing World Cup Finals -- due to take place in
Cortina d'Ampezzo this month -- will be held without any fans on the slopes.
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