Italian football faces another scandal after the national team failed to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup. With only three days until the penultimate round of Serie A, half of the league's teams still do not know their match schedules.
At the heart of the issue is the Rome derby. Originally scheduled for Sunday at 12:30 PM local time, alongside four other fixtures involving teams competing for Champions League spots, the match became problematic. The race for the three remaining Champions League places (after champions Inter Milan) is intensely tight, requiring simultaneous kickoffs for matches involving Napoli, Juventus, AC Milan, Roma, and Como to ensure fair play.
However, the men's singles final of the Italian Open is set for 5:00 PM local time at Rome's Foro Italico, which shares a complex with the Stadio Olimpico. Citing security concerns, local authorities demanded the derby be postponed until Monday evening.
To avoid disrupting thousands of fans, Lega Serie A proposed moving the derby half an hour earlier, to 12:00 PM, and shifting the tennis final start to 5:30 PM, but Rome officials rejected the plan. The Italian Football Federation appealed to the Regional Administrative Court (TAR) on Wednesday evening.
Lazio manager Maurizio Sarri criticized Lega Serie A and declared he would not attend the match if the derby remained on Sunday. Lega Serie A President Ezio Simonelli acknowledged the scheduling overlap was an oversight but stressed that a responsible solution had been proposed for the 300,000 affected fans.
A five-point gap between Napoli (second, 70 points) and Como (sixth, 65 points) keeps the Champions League race unpredictable. Juventus (68 points), Milan, and Roma (both 67 points) are also in contention. Lazio, meanwhile, is out of the running.
At the bottom of the table, Lecce (the final safe position) holds a one-point lead over 18th-placed Cremonese. Lecce travels to face Sassuolo, while Cremonese meets Udinese.
