Six Games In Italy's Top Football League To Be Held Behind Closed Doors Due To Coronavirus

Six Games in Italy's Top Football League to Be Held Behind Closed Doors Due to Coronavirus

Six games of the 26th day of Serie A, a top-tier Italian football league, will be held behind closed doors due to the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country's northern regions, Italian Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora said on Tuesday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th February, 2020) Six games of the 26th day of Serie A, a top-tier Italian football league, will be held behind closed doors due to the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country's northern regions, Italian sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora said on Tuesday.

The matches closed for spectators include Udinese-Fiorentina on Saturday; Milan-Genoa, Parma-SPAL, Sassuolo-Brescia and Juventus-Inter on Sunday; and Sampdoria-Hellas Verona on Monday.

"Measures are already in force, that prohibit any events until next Sunday. Initially for Lombardy, Veneto and Piedmont. Now we have also extended [the measures] to Friuli Venezia Giulia, Emilia Romagna and Liguria," Spadafora said, as quoted by the English-language news portal, Football Italia.

On Sunday, it was announced that Inter would play a Europa League home match against Bulgar's Ludogorets behind closed doors.

The COVID-19 outbreak in northern Italy has left over 260 people infected. Seven of them have died from complications, including six in the northern region of Lombardy. Earlier in the day, the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in the country's south, in the Sicilian city of Palermo.