Serie A, the calendar: starting with Inter-Monza
Inter will start at the newly-promoted Monza, Napoli will face an away match against Genoa, Juventus and Milan, without thoughts of Champions League, will begin their season respectively at Frosinone and Turin. The football market has yet to begin, as well as the World Cup, which Italy will once again watch from home, but in the meantime Serie A has unveiled - from the Teatro Regio in Parma - the calendar for the year to come, with the memory of the verdicts of the championship that has just gone into the attic still vivid. The merry-go-round of football, however, never stops, and so the Italia champions will make their debut at the San Siro on 22 or 23 August against the last team to get on the Serie A train, Paolo Bianco's Monza, who emerged victorious from the playoff tussle
The big matches will arrive soon, already on the first weekend of September, with Inter-Napoli (the challenge between who won the last two championships) and Juventus-Milan, called to respond and be ready after the disappointments of this spring. Direct clashes that will be anticipated by one of the novelties of the season, the Gran Galà Aic placed on 2 September at the Teatro alla Scala, where the top eleven of the previous year will be revealed. A decision taken 'in an attempt to make the most of the assets of Italia football,' explained Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo in announcing the news.
Returning to the calendar, the tenth round, at the end of October, presents other key crossroads, with Juventus-Naples and Milan-Inter lighting up the championship weekend. And the other derbies? All at the back, in the middle of winter, with the one in Rome set for mid-December and the one in Turin for Epiphany. Also at the bottom of the calendar is the 'big match' between Inter and Juventus. At the San Siro it will be played on the last day of the first leg, the return match in Turin is scheduled for the 36th, in mid-May, the last direct clash of the season. The Valentine's weekend will then put the couples' stamina to the test. In fact, the calendar draw has fixed both the return Milan derby and the direct clash at the 'Maradona' between Napoli and Juve on the 24th day. The other two extra-cittadins will take place on the 31st (derby della Mole on 3-4 April) and 32nd (derby della Capitale on 17-18 April), thus avoiding dangerous intersections with the Atp Finals and Internazionali d'Italia, the two key events of Italian tennis, after the controversy that has erupted in recent weeks.
