Serie A coronavirus chaos continues after aborted meeting

The coronavirus crisis continues to play havoc with Italian football after a scheduled Lega Serie A Emergency Assembly failed to go ahead on Wednesday.

Only nine top-flight clubs had officials in attendance at the league council, with 14 needed for it to be considered an Assembly.

An informal meeting was held among those who did attend, lasting around three hours, with reports suggesting the favoured approach is to play forthcoming fixtures behind closed doors.

A report from Italian news agency ANSA suggested the government is to impose a ban on sporting events for 30 days, although football matches may still be allowed to take place without fans in attendance.

Italian sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora told reporters the government is heading towards "this type of measure" after the culmination of a separate meeting among officials.

The schedule for Italian football has been plunged into crisis, with several league fixtures having been postponed over the past two weekends, including the Derby d'Italia that was due to take place on Sunday.

The Coppa Italia semi-final second-leg fixtures between Juventus and Milan, and Napoli and Inter have also been called off, with no rearranged date yet confirmed.

ANSA said there have been 2,263 confirmed positive cases of coronavirus in Italy, with 80 people having died.