Serie A sides will wear black armbands and hold a minute's silence before Saturday's fixtures
Thursday 16 August 2018 16:54, UK
The Italian FA have postponed Sunday's scheduled Serie A matches between Milan and Genoa, and Sampdoria and Fiorentina after the collapse of a motorway bridge in Genoa.
Genoa and Sampdoria are both based in the Italian city of Genoa where at least 39 people have died in the Ponte Morandi disaster, which has prompted a year-long state of emergency to be declared in the region.
The Italian league's governing body says Genoa's match at AC Milan and Sampdoria's home game against Fiorentina have been postponed following a request from the teams.
Both matches were scheduled for Sunday, during the opening weekend of the Serie A season.
The Italian FA said in a statement that the rescheduled dates for the two matches will be announced in the coming days.
The rest of the opening weekend fixtures will be played. A minute's silence will be held before every match.
The statement read: "Given the requests for postponement of their matches scheduled for Sunday, August 19 at 20.30 on the part of the clubs Sampdoria and Genoa as result of the tragedy which hit Genoa, and having received the assent of both Fiorentina and Milan, [we have] decided on the postponement of the Sampdoria-Fiorentina and Milan-Genoa matches.
"The rescheduled dates for the two matches will be announced in the coming days, in compliance with the regulations in force.
"In all the other matches scheduled for the first round of the Serie A TIM, in memory of the victims of Genoa, one minute of silence will be observed before the start and the teams will take to the field with black armbands."
Sampdoria President Massimo Ferrero has said he has been informed by Juventus that it won't play on Saturday, the day of the funerals.
Juventus is scheduled to play at Chievo Verona in what is expected to be Cristiano Ronaldo's competitive debut for his new club.
