FA to hold coronavirus talks ahead of England’s friendly with Italy at Wembley

The FA will today hold urgent talks over the impact of the coronavirus on England’s Wembley friendly with Italy next month. 

Senior staff will sit down at the national stadium to talk through the problems associated with the fixture after the outbreak increased in northern Italy.

More than 370 people have been diagnosed with the virus in Italy, with nearly a dozen towns put into quarantine. Twelve people are known to have died.

Events across the sporting landscape have been effected by the outbreak, with Italian authorities putting restrictions in place in an attempt to stop the spread of the disease.

Inter Milan’s Europa League match at home to Ludogorets will be played behind closed doors on Thursday, on the back of four Serie A matches being postponed last weekend.

Italy are due to play England at Wembley in a friendly on March 27 and the FA is meeting to discuss that match as well as other matters related to coronavirus.

England’s partially-sighted team are due to to play in Italy next month, while there was also talk of Italy’s Under-18s coming over to the the UK.

Euro 2020 is almost certainly going to be another topic of discussion, but the main focus is on March as the tournament is then the jurisdiction of UEFA and the relevant authorities.

So far, the FA has said it will continue to take Government advice, with no special measures currently planned for next month’s match against Italy.

UEFA confirmed that Inter’s match with Ludogorets at the San Siro was the only Europa League game to be affected by coronavirus.

The governing body said in a statement: ‘All other UEFA matches scheduled this week will go ahead as planned and at this time there are no restrictions for attending supporters.

‘UEFA will continue to closely monitor the situation regarding Covid-19 and to liaise with relevant authorities in this respect.’