Lega Serie A has confirmed that, while Genoa and Sampdoria's season-openers had been postponed because of the tragic Ponte Morandi bridge crumble on Tuesday, the remainder of the weekend's matches will go ahead as scheduled.
As a minimum 38 people died and up to 15 others were injured while a huge segment of an overhead motorway gave way during stormy situations in Genoa, resulting in dozens of automobiles falling about 148 feet (45 metres) directly to the railway lines, river and warehouses under.
A state of emergency has since been declared, as rescuers maintain to search for survivors, while Saturday has been declared a national day of mourning, on which funerals of most of the victims are set to be held.
Massimo Ferrero, the president of Sampdoria, one of the city's top-flight clubs, had called for all of this weekend's Serie A matches to be postponed as a mark of respect however only the Blucerchiati's clash with Fiorentina at the Luigi Ferraris, and Genoa's match with AC Milan at San Siro have been called off.
But, while the 8 other fixtures will move ahead, it was confirmed in a Lega Serie A announcement released on Thursday that, "in memory of the victims of Genoa, one minute of silence will be observed earlier than kick-off and the teams will take to the field with black armbands."
Regardless of his earlier request, Ferrero voiced his support for the league's decision.
“I thank president Gaetano Micciche and all of Serie A for the sensitivity shown to Sampdoria and its fans,” read a statement from the Samp supremo.
“Suspending the games Sampdoria-Fiorentina and Milan-Genoa represents an essential act of cohesion that Genoa and the Genoese people, who are living days of profound ache and sincere astonishment, will no longer forget.
“It's also right that the rest of Serie A goes ahead and starts in other stadiums: that takes nothing away from the sense of closeness and fraternity that every one of Italy showed it has in its soul as a nation that gets back on its feet each time.
“Genoa gets back on its feet once more too: stronger, more comfortable and even more stunning.”
Serie A's decision to continue with the other games means that the 2018-19 campaign will kick off on Saturday at 5pm BST (12pm ET) with Chievo hosting reigning champions Juventus, who're expected to give a debut to superstar summer signing Cristiano Ronaldo.
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