Milan-Comoscheduled for the next one February 8 and valid for the 24th matchday of Serie A, it will not be the first match of the Italian championship played in Australia. The official statement in a press release from the Lega Calcio Serie A explains the reasons for this sensational backtracking. Just a few days ago, before the semi-finals of the Italian Super Cup in Riyadh, the president of the League Simonelli had assured that Milan-Como would be played in Perth as scheduled: “We had a number of doubts about the conditions required to play the match in Perth, but Collina gave us guarantees about the Asian referees. This reassured us“, he declared to Mediaset. The Asian referees were just one of the conditions imposed by the rigid AFC, the Asian Football Federation. But there were also others which evidently led to this sensational about-face. It remains to be understood now where Milan-Como will be played given that on that date the San Siro stadium will be occupied for the Milan-Cortina Olympics.
The press release from the Lega Calcio Serie A
With a joint note, the Lega Serie A and the Western Australian government explained the decision in detail: “The plans to host in Perth the first match of a European championship ever played outside the national borders have been canceled by mutual agreement. The parties took this decision due to the financial risks that it was not possible to contain, of onerous approval conditions and of last minute complications beyond their control. The onerous additional conditions imposed by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to authorize the match could not be satisfied without financial risks for the Government of Western Australia and for the Lega Calcio Serie A”.
Simonelli: “A missed opportunity for the growth of Italian football”
“Faced with an escalation of further and unacceptable requests made in the last few hours by the AFC towards the Australian Federation and consequently the Government of Western Australia and the Lega Calcio Serie A, it has become impossible to play the match in Perth – explained the president of Lega Calcio Serie A Ezio Simonelli -. In expressing regret for the epilogue of this project, we continue to be firmly convinced that this conclusion is a missed opportunity in the project of growth of Italian football at an international level, which also deprives the many Serie A fans abroad from living the dream of attending a match of their favorite team live“.
