Serie A confirms Bologna vs Milan postponement after heavy rain and flooding

Bologna’s weekend match with AC Milan has been postponed after torrential rain and flooding made it impossible to host the match at their home stadium, Serie A confirmed on Friday.

In a statement, Serie A said that Saturday evening’s fixture had been pushed back to “a date yet to be determined” after city authorities on Thursday banned it from being played at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, “even behind closed doors”.

Bologna and its surrounding areas were still reeling from a massive downpour over last weekend which claimed the life of one 20-year-old man.

Some 175 millimetres of rain (nearly 7 inches) fell in one day, compared to the historical average of 70 millimetres for the entire month of October, regional authorities said.

Swathes of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy, much of which is fertile agricultural flatland, was left under water following a second round extreme weather in a matter of weeks.

That left Serie A with the choice of either postponing the match or playing it on neutral ground, at Como or Empoli.

The latter was Milan’s preferred option with a midweek round of matches coming up and the Champions League the following week.

Milan president Paolo Scaroni described the decision as “incomprehensible”, adding “I don’t understand why the mayor (of Bologna) banned the match from being played behind closed doors”.

Bologna, last season’s surprise team, have endured a poor start to the 2024/25 campaign — they are 12th with nine points and have won only one of their first eight matches.

AC Milan are in fourth spot on 14 points, five points behind leaders Napoli.