ROME: The penultimate round of the Serie A campaign promises an intriguing fight for places in next season’s Champions League, but a fixture scheduling stand-off between the league and local authorities left clubs and supporters in limbo until an agreement was finally reached.
Serie A rules require teams competing for the same objective to play simultaneously on the final two matchdays, and on Monday the organizers scheduled the five decisive fixtures for Sunday at 1230 CET.
The Rome derby is among them, and with the Italian Tennis Open men’s final taking place on Sunday at the Foro Italico, next door to the Stadio Olimpico, the early kickoff was chosen to avoid security complications.
Rome’s Prefect, however, disagreed, and on Tuesday ordered the AS Roma-Lazio game to be moved to Monday night. The Lega Serie A appealed to the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio, but they declined to rule, instead inviting the parties to come to an agreement.
A decision was made late on Thursday to schedule the games for 12:00 on Sunday, with a unified security coordination put in place to cover both the Rome derby and the tennis.
