Serie A moves winter break for holiday games
ROME: For a competition that has always held holidays as sacrosanct, Serie A is taking a big break from tradition this week.
Following the successful example of the English Premier League, the Italian league will play Serie A and Italian Cup matches over four of the next five days. “The concept is simple. Professional football is an entertainment product and offering it during the holiday period is a great opportunity for those in charge,” Roma general manager Mauro Baldissoni said.
“The Premier League has shown that it works to offer this product during the holidays — both in terms of stadium attendance and international TV viewership.”
The opening two matches of the week will be held in the country’s two biggest stadiums: Lazio hosts Fiorentina in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico on Tuesday in the Italian Cup quarterfinals, then it’s a Milan derby at the San Siro in another quarterfinal a day later.
On Friday, in Serie A, league leader Napoli visits Crotone. On Saturday, there’s a slate of nine league matches, beginning with Fiorentina v AC Milan and concluding with evening matches featuring Inter Milan hosting Lazio and Juventus visiting Hellas Verona.
More Cup matches are scheduled for January 2 and 3, then Serie A again on January 5 and 6.
Veteran coach Fabio Capello believes the scheduling is already problematic because of too many night matches — starting with the week’s first game, LazioFiorentina.
“It’s too late,” Capello told Italian daily La Repubblica. “That means leaving the stadium at midnight in the cold with many people having to work the next day. If you’re going to play on a holiday, you’ve got to start earlier and help the fans out.”
In the past, Serie A’s winter break began before Christmas and lasted until after Jan. 6, which is Epiphany, a major Catholic feast day and the end of the holiday period in Italy. This season, the break will be from Jan. 7-20. “It doesn’t change much for the players,” Baldissoni said. “They’ll still have a break in January.”
Still, the Italian schedule has not gone quite as far as the Premier League, which has no break at all and games on December 26, 27, 28, 30 and 31, plus January 1, 2, 3 and 4 — meaning teams will play three matches in little more than a week.
“In England, the last match on Boxing Day (Tuesday) starts in late afternoon. It would be good not to just copy but also improve on the copied product,” Capello said.
But for a league struggling with attendance, fan violence and racism, Italy is providing an opportunity for families to go to the stadium while school is on break.