The winners of the Coppa Italia final which will be played tonight will have to serve medals on themselves at the end of the match in line with the coronavirus hygiene regulations by the Italian football FA. It is a precautionary measure to ensure that the players and other officials are not put at risk during the medals ceremony.
Normally, top football officials would line up to award individual players with the medals and subsequently present the trophy to the winners. This time around, each player will walk to the podium and pick up his medal and the captain of the team will pick up the trophy to celebrate with his team members.
Before the medals will be arranged on the podium for the footballers to pick and decorate themselves, the organisers of the tournament would have disinfected them thoroughly to ensure that no chances are taken.
Recall that just like in other major leagues across Europe, Italian Serie A and every other football competitions were put on hold since March because of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
The disrupted 2019-2020 season was finally allowed to restart on Friday, 12 June, with the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal match between the league leaders Juventus and AC Milan.
The match ended goalless and Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty. However, the goalless draw was enough for Juventus to play in the finals due to the away goals rule. Ronaldo and his teammates drew with Milan 1-1 when they visited San Siro four months ago. They will now face 6th placed Napoli tonight at the Stadio Olimpico.
Napoli qualified for the final after their 1-1 draw with Inter Milan. Their 1-0 win over the club four months ago was enough to book them a date with Juventus in the final as they ended the two-legged face-offs 2-1 on aggregate.
Just like how it will be in the final, all these happened behind closed doors but the fans had the opportunity of watching the matches live on television and online video streaming platforms.
This Wednesday night, coronavirus pandemic will force the fans to see what they have never seen in the history of football in Italy when players will have to decorate themselves with medals, unlike the usual culture.
“Let’s call it self-service,” Serie A chief executive Luigi De Siervo said via a video news conference on Tuesday. “The athletes will help themselves to the cup and medals, so as to avoid outside contact with the squad which is subject to strict controls.”
After the Coppa Italia final, the followers of the league will have to direct their attention to the Italian Seria A proper. All has been set for the league to restart this Saturday.
The battle of who will emerge the champions of the league is strictly between the reigning champions Juventus and the second-placed Lazio. Juventus is currently topping Lazio with just a point. If they sustain that and win the league title after winning the Coppa Italia tonight, Ronaldo will end the season with 31 club titles.
