Cristiano Ronaldo to return to Juventus training on Tuesday after finishing two-week quarantine period following return from Portugal
Monday 18 May 2020 20:41, UK
Serie A will not be able to restart before Monday, June 15, due to a decree from the Italian government banning all competitive sports events until June 14.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte signed off a decree on Sunday banning "any event and sporting competition of any order and discipline" until June 14, a measure echoed by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).
"FIGC takes note of the decisions taken in the May 17 decree [...] and, taken note of the suspension of events and sporting competitions of all order and discipline, in private or public places, until June 14, 2020, [...] has prolonged the suspension of sporting activity until June 14, 2020," a FIGC statement read.
Clubs from the Italian top-flight agreed last week a provisional date of June 13 to resume the league, subject to approval from the Italian government.
Meanwhile, the Italian government's scientific committee is continuing discussions over when group training can recommence ahead of a possible restart to matches behind closed doors in June.
The resumption of collective training had initially been agreed for Monday, but has now been postponed due to requests to modify certain protocols in the proposal.
The most important amendments including the abolition of a safety distance to be observed by players during training sessions and the measures to be taken in case of a new positive within the squad, which would require the rest of the team to go on a training retreat quarantine.
An agreement on the protocol is expected to be reached on Tuesday, but the chances of Serie A resuming still hang in the balance.
Italy, which has been one of the first and worst hit countries by coronavirus in Europe, almost completely relaxed their lockdown measures on Monday as they entered Phase 2 of their protocol, and is braced to reopen borders on June 3.
Cristiano Ronaldo will return to training with Juventus on Tuesday as Serie A begins preparations for its resumption.
The Portugal captain will finish his mandatory 14-day quarantine on Monday night after flying in from his home in Madeira and will subsequently join the individual sessions at the club's Continassa training base.
Ronaldo had returned to his homeland immediately after the victory over Inter Milan on March 8 which took Juve top of Serie A before the league was paused due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The ex-Real Madrid and Manchester United star spent two months in isolation with his family in the Portuguese island and then flew back into Turin, where he continued to train in a home gym, two weeks ago.
