Juventus

The players and staff at Serie A clubs should be tested for coronavirus and then isolated in training camps when they begin preparing for the re-start of the season, the Italian football federation (FIGC) recommended on Wednesday. 

The recommendation will be among the guidelines drawn up by the FIGC's medical committee so that the season, on hold since March 9 because of the coronavirus outbreak, can safely restart, the FIGC said in a statement. 

The Serie A season could be extended to September or October, the head of the Italian FA (FIGC) said on Sunday, warning that there could be an "avalanche of litigation" if it was not settled on the field. 

Serie A has been suspended since March 9 because of the coronavirus pandemic which has claimed 15,887 lives in Italy, almost a quarter of the global death total. Several club presidents have suggested that the season should be called off. 

Italy's sports minister said he will propose extending the ban on all competitions to the whole of April in an effort to contain the coronavirus. The death toll from the coronavirus rose past 10,000 in Italy on Saturday, a figure that made an extension of a national lockdown almost certain. 

"Re-starting matches ... is unrealistic. Tomorrow I will propose to extend the ban on all sports competitions, of all levels and types, to the whole of April," Vincenzo Spadafora told daily La Repubblica in an interview. 

Juventus forward Paulo Dybala, one of the highest-profile players to be infected with the coronavirus, has started training again after recovering from the illness which he said left him struggling for breath.

Dybala is one of three players at Juventus who have tested positive for the virus alongside defender Daniele Rugani and midfielder Blaise Matuidi, a World Cup winner with France in 2018. Players at other Serie A clubs have also tested positive.

Cristiano Ronaldo and football agent Jorge Mendes joined forces on Tuesday to donate lifesaving equipment to Portuguese hospitals struggling to treat patients with coronavirus. The two will donate equipment for two wards at Lisbon's Santa Maria hospital, providing the wards with 10 beds each, ventilators, heart monitors, infusion pumps and syringes, the hospital said in a statement. 

Serie A surprised fans in February when it began postponing matches because of COVID-19. Postponement soon became protocol. The Match Day 25 fixture between Inter Milan and Sampdoria was the first of a long list of postponed matches to come. Two weeks later, Italy’s Prime Minister announced all sports in the country would be postponed.

ROME — Italian soccer clubs, players and fans have banded together to raise millions of euros to support the country’s stretched health system amid the devastating coronavirus outbreak.

Thursday was one of the bleakest days in Italy’s battle against COVID-19 as the death toll rose to 3,405, overtaking China as the highest number of fatalities from the disease in one country.

A state of nationwide lockdown remains in place as the government looks to control the spread of the virus and all sports events have been suspended since March 9.