One Match To Be Played In A Closet, The Rest To Be decided Next Week

Today's big development in Italy, getting past the hangover of having to play games behind closed doors, is the decision by UEFA to have Livorno play it's UEFA Cup home-leg against Espanyol in an empty stadium. The club's Armando Picchi ground does not fulfill the security requirements spelled out by the Italian government. The status of Parma's home-leg match against Portuguese side Braga will be decided next week.

In the Champions League, it's the same story for both Milan and Inter. Europe's governing body has put off a decision on the Milan duo's home matches as well. Roma, Serie A's other remaining Champions League participant, has gotten the thumbs-up from the government to play it's home matches in front of it's supporters.

A story lost in the shuffle has been the issue of Italy's European Championship qualifiers. Italy's next game is at home to Scotland on March 28th. Both the Italian and Scottish FAs believe that the stadium in Bari will be up to code by then. You'd imagine that if it isn't ready, they would just move the game to one of the six stadiums that are equipped to handle a full house.

For a bit of insight into what's transpired in the land of calcio this past week, read this James Richardson post. Money quote:

"If three clubs play with their crowds behind them, and the others don't, it'll make the championship unfair," points out Gennaro Gattuso of Milan, one of the teams affected. It's a fair point, but bear in mind that all the clubs are being asked to do is put in place some basic security requirements - turnstiles, closed circuit TV, etc - that they were legally meant to have in place over a year and a half ago. A couple of games without any gate money may give them the incentive to finally get the work done.

No one thinks the next few weeks are going to be easy (apart from the people selling pay-TV subscriptions) and no-one's pretending that these measures will mean an end to violence, but at least this week we've seen a definite step in the right direction. A belated one, perhaps, but a step nonetheless.

Livorno UEFA Cup tie to be played behind closed doors [Reuters]
UEFA postpone stadio decisions [Channel 4]
Celtic and SFA may get green light for Italy [Scotsman]
The end of the old Ultras violence [Guardian Unlimited]

-ac