ROME • This season's Serie A could finish without a champion if the league cannot be completed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Italy's football bosses have approved the holding of play-offs should the restarting Serie A season be suspended again.
Should the campaign come to a definitive halt, an algorithm will be used to decide the league table. The formula would decide league placings, European qualification and relegation, but not who wins the league title.
A champion will only be named if the season is completed or if a team cannot be caught before a premature end of the campaign.
Juventus, chasing a ninth straight title, lead the standings with 63 points from 26 games, followed by Lazio (62), Inter Milan (54) and Atalanta (48). The teams fighting relegation are Udinese (28), Torino (27), Sampdoria (26), Genoa, Lecce (both 25), Spal (18) and Brescia (16).
The top flight is due to resume on June 20 and finish on Aug 2 after a suspension of three months, but with Italy among the worst hit by the coronavirus, its football authorities have backed contingency plans in case of a new spike in infections.
"Today, football won, we showed unity," said Italian Football Federation (FIGC) chief Gabriele Gravina after the approval via a vote on Monday. "We are restarting on June 20 with the aim of finishing the season. Until July 10-15, we will keep in mind the possibility of holding play-offs."
He added that the format of the play-offs, including the number of teams involved, will be decided "alongside the league before the restart". Play-offs would decide top places and relegation positions.
The season will restart with the four games in hand that were left to play before Covid-19 shut down global sport. There are another 12 full rounds of matches still to play.
If these matches cannot be played, league placings will be decided by a formula which takes into account the points earned and other factors, including average points per home and away game, multiplied respectively by the number of home and away matches left to play.
Clubs who were opposed to the algorithm and wanted to block relegation to Serie B should the season be stopped again, lost the vote 18-3.
Inter CEO Giuseppe Marotta has been vocal about his opposition to "all solutions that don't look at the Serie A table". And he told broadcaster Sky Sport Italia on Monday: "I don't think there are any winners or losers today, this is in my opinion an unusual situation.
"We have been forced to go back to the drawing board, we've been slapped in the face morally, we have lost our reclaim: Three votes against and 18 in favour of revisiting the rules and governance of an organisation that does not reflect the specific importance of a league like Serie A."
The meeting did not address another question troubling clubs regarding what happens if any players test positive for Covid-19. As things stand, new cases will require the whole squad to be quarantined for 14 days, severely disrupting the championship and raising the prospect it may not be completed.
Gravina warned that teams who do not comply with the government's regulations to keep the virus in check will face sanctions and could be excluded from the league.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
