Salernitana’s COVID-19 no-show decision reversed

Italian football’s appeals court on Monday overturned a Serie A decision to penalise Salernitana for failing to travel to Udinese on December 21 when cases of Covid-19 emerged in their team.

The initial penalty of a 3-0 defeat and a deducted point inflicted on Salernitana has been withdrawn.

“The court, accepting Salernitana’s appeal, annulled the decision,” the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) said in a statement.

Serie A’s sports judge had said the club could have done more to fulfil the fixture, but Salernitana cited instructions from the local health authorities as to why they couldn’t play. 

The league, as it has done since last season, maintained the match, leaving the Udinese players to show up on the pitch in the full knowledge that their opponents would not turn up. 

The FIGC’s decision means Salernitana remain bottom of the league but on 13 points, while Udinese drop down to 15th.

The court also rejected Inter Milan’s appeal against Serie A’s decision that their match with Bologna should be played, with Italian media reporting the Italian champions will make one final appeal to the country’s Olympic Committee.

It was a bad day for Udinese as their appeal to the FIGC over their 6-2 defeat at the hands of Atalanta was rejected.

Udinese had to play that match with a huge chunk of their squad out of action with Covid-19 infections and wanted the match to be replayed.