16 March 2020

Italian FA urges UEFA to postpone Euro 2020 due to coronavirus

The President of the Italian FA has called on UEFA to postpone this summer's European Championships because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The competition is scheduled to take place in 12 host cities across Europe for the first time in the tournament's history.

But Italy's FA President Gabriele Gravina, who has already been involved in the suspension of Serie A as a result of the pandemic, is now urging the governing body for European competition to do the same thing.

He said: "We will propose that UEFA postpone the European Championship."

However, despite the major scheduling issues around domestic competitions, Gravina is optimistic the Serie A season will be concluded.

"We will try to get to the end of this championship [Serie A] because it is fairer and more correct after the many investments and sacrifices of our clubs," he added.

"If the league were to resume at the beginning of May, I would leave the question of training for the moment. Let's leave the boys at home, they have to recover physical and mental energy."

A total of 1,809 people have already died of the virus in Italy, with records on Sunday showing 368 more deaths in just one day - a new high.

UEFA is to conduct a video meeting with representatives from its 55 countries on Tuesday in a bid to discuss all domestic and European competitions.

It has been widely reported that one option could be to postpone Euro 2020 until next summer.

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