Juventus-Napoli will go on as conditions to postpone don’t apply to Napoli, asserts Serie A

10/04/2020

The Serie A has revealed that Juventus’ clash against Napoli will go on as planned as there are no grounds to postpone it despite reports indicating that Napoli have been blocked from travelling. This comes after five people from both clubs including two players tested positive for COVID-19.

Despite Juventus’ insistence that their game between Napoli will go on, the BBC have reported that the Partenopei have been unable to travel to Turin because of the local health authorities. This comes after two Napoli players tested positive for the coronavirus which has forced Piotr Zielinski and Eljif Elmas into isolation until they recover. However, they aren’t the only ones as a member of the team’s staff and two from Juventus have tested positive as well.

But despite Juventus’ comments, there has been no official comment from either of the two teams or any health authorities regarding the game on Sunday. The sudden rise was because Napoli hosted Genoa last weekend where 17 players tested positive for COVID-19 which saw Genoa’s game against Torino postponed. But despite that, the Serie A’s statement revealed that the game will go on despite unconfirmed reports that Napoli haven’t been allowed to travel.

“Following Napoli’s official request [to postpone the game] the Lega Calcio states that the current rules aim to guarantee the health of everybody, the equal treatment for all clubs and the respect of the principles of sportsmanship. The statement of ASL Campania asks fiduciary isolation for the close contacts of Piotr Zielinski” reads the statement on the league’s website.

"Therefore, in this case, it is applied the FIGC protocol agreed with the Technical-Scientific Committee and integrated with the notice of the Italian Health Minister on June 18, 2020 and that was not taken into account in the email sent by the vice-head of cabinet of the Regione Campania.

“The same rule was applied to other cases in the past and, for instance, it allowed Torino to play against Atalanta, Milan’s trip to Crotone, Genoa’s away game at the San Paolo vs Napoli and Atalanta’s home match against Cagliari.

"Even if there are cases of players in the group who tested positive for coronavirus, the protocol provides certain and mandatory rules that allow games to be played by fielding all the footballers who tested negative through exams undergone within the time range given by the health authorities.

“The Council of the Lega Calcio did also approve a set of rules that can lead to the postponement of a game only with several cases of players testing positive for the virus. These conditions can’t be applied to the current Napoli case at the moment and there are no decisions of the local authorities that prevent the game from being played.”