Serie A transfer window to open two months later than normal as season plans are confirmed

Italian Football Federation has designated a month-long transfer window and outlined plans to end the season with a point-per-game formula if the coronavirus pandemic prevents the 2019/20 campaign from ending

The Italian Football Federation has said the summer transfer window will open on 1 September, two months later than scheduled, and close on 5 October.

Football in Italy has been suspended since March due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the season is set to spill over into August.

England's Football Association is discussing proposals to move its transfer window to August from June while France's Football Federation opened its window on Monday for domestic transfers only.

Serie A, which was suspended on 9 March, is due to resume on 20 June and finish on 2 August, with clubs still having 12 or 13 games remaining to complete the 2019/20 season. If a new suspension makes completing the season impossible an algorithm will be used to calculate final standings.

The Italian federation on Monday approved plans for a play-off or the use of an algorithm if the regular season cannot be finished. Serie A clubs decided on Friday to ask for no champion and no relegations.

The latest plans proposed by FIGC president Gabriele Gravina were approved by a unanimous vote. Three Serie A representatives did not take part in the vote.

"Today, football won, we showed unity," Gravina said. "Right from the start we supported the necessity to not remain outside the international scene. Among the big five, four of us decided to finish our seasons.

"The Lega Serie A is not coming out of this defeated. It's just that some of their requests weren't accepted because they weren't in line with what we decided last month."

The format of the playoffs, including the number of teams involved, is yet to be finalised.

"We still haven't decided on the details but we will do so before the season starts, together with the Lega Serie A," Gravina said.

"I think it will be a useless task because I hope that the season will finish normally."

If matches cannot be held because of time restrictions or the pandemic worsens, play-offs are the preferred option to determine the final standings. If an algorithm is necessary, there will be no champion unless it is mathematically certain at the point the season is stopped again.

The final points tally of each team, added to the current standings, will be based on their average points from home and away matches, multiplied by the number of remaining home and away matches.

The FIGC also announced that if a team is found to have violated the strict medical protocol established for resuming matches, it could face sanctions ranging from a fine to being excluded from the championship - depending on the severity of the infraction.

If the season cannot restart on 20 June, the FIGC has until 10 July to decide whether it can restart. It has been allowed until 20 August to finish.

The top two men's divisions are the only ones set to resume. It was decided on Monday not to restart the Women's Serie A.

"It's a negative point," Gravina said. "It would have been a really great advert for the whole movement to give the same treatment to the female players."

There were only six rounds remaining but only Juventus, AC Milan and Sassuolo had managed to resume training. Many of the clubs also have players who are still abroad.

The female players released a collective statement on Monday morning announcing they were against the proposal of a playoff involving half the teams because "it doesn't guarantee true fairness" and "we all go out on the field or no one does."

There will be no title assigned and the same algorithm will be used to determine European spots and relegation.

"Unfortunately, despite everything," the president of women's soccer, Ludovica Mantovani, said "the positions assumed by the clubs were strongly fragmented and there wasn't a decisive front from the players with a desire to play."

The third division of men's soccer also had its regular season halted. Monza, which is owned by Silvio Berlusconi, Vicenza and Reggina have been promoted to Serie B as the leaders of the three groups. There will be a playoff to determine the other team to join them in the second division.

Reuters and AP