Serie A will restart on June 20, confirms Italian sports minister

On Thursday, Italian sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora confirmed that the Serie A will restart on June 20. The latest date that has been decided for the resumption of the league is delayed by a week from the initially proposed date.

Spadafora met with Italian football authorities via a video conference after the medical protocol for matches was approved.

After the meeting, Spadafora said, "The meeting was very useful. Now Italy is starting again and it is right that football starts again too. If the curve changes and the league has to be stopped again, the Italian football federation has assured me that there exists a plan B, playoffs... and also a plan C, leaving the standings as they are."

Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus is leading the table with 63 points. They are one point ahead of Lazio. Juve is currently bidding for a record-extending ninth successive Serie A title victory.

12 more rounds remain in Serie A, in addition to four matches from the 25th round that were postponed.

Back on March 9, Serie A was suspended as the government had ordered a nationwide lockdown to put a stop to the unprecedented growth of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier this month, all 20 teams of the league agreed to resume competition on June 13, and it was understood that the matches would be played in front of empty stands. However, that didn't seem possible as days later, the government ordered a sports ban until June 14.

According to Firstpost, Spadafora also mentioned the possibility of playing the Coppa Italia semifinals and final on June 13 and 17 respectively.

Before the lockdown was implemented, the first legs of the last-four encounters had already been played. Napoli won 1-0 against Inter Milan and AC Milan drew 1-1 with Juventus.

Over the last couple of weeks, football fans have been receiving some great news. Germany's Bundesliga has already resumed. While doing so, they became the first major sporting competition to resume their season following the coronavirus-related suspension.

Earlier this week, Spain's La Liga also revealed its plans of playing 32 consecutive days of football once it resumes on June 11. Now with Serie A also following suit, football fans worldwide who are currently in quarantine will have lots of football to cheer about.