Genoa’s Serie A match at home to Torino on Saturday has been called off after the club said that 11 players plus four members of staff had tested positive for Covid-19.
The Serie A league confirmed in a statement on Thursday that the game had been postponed, although it did not give further details.
It is the first match to be called off since Serie A, which was suspended in March due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, resumed in June with a strict health protocol.
Genoa, Italy's oldest professional club, announced on Saturday that goalkeeper Mattia Perin had tested positive and he was ruled out of Sunday's match at Napoli, which they lost 6-0.
Since then Francesco Cassata, Lukas Lerager, Federico Marchetti, Filippo Melegoni, Luca Pellegrini, Marko Pjaca, Ivan Radovanovic, Lasse Schone, Davide Zappacosta and Valon Behrami have also tested positive for the virus.
Gazzetta dello Sport and other Italian media said Serie A had also agreed on rules for similar cases for the rest of the season.
It reported that matches would go ahead provided both teams had a minimum of 13 players available and that teams who cannot play will forfeit the game – the same criteria used by European soccer governing body Uefa.
However, Serie A ruled that teams would have the right, once in the season, to ask for a postponement without suffering a walkover if 10 players were infected within one week.
