Lega Serie A President Updates ‘At The Moment, Inter Milan Vs Napoli Title Playoff Would Be Played At San Siro' – Hints At Champions League Final Exception
Lega Serie A President Updates 'At The Moment, Inter Milan Vs Napoli Title Playoff Would Be Played At San Siro' – Hints At Champions League Final Exception
Lega Serie A President Enzo Simonelli confirms that at the moment, a title playoff between Inter Milan and Napoli would be at the San Siro.
Speaking to reporters, via FCInterNews, Simonelli also suggested that in the future the playoff could be scrapped in the event of one of the teams being in the Champions League final.
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The Serie A title race is set to go down to the final day of the season.
Inter Milan are one point behind Napoli at the top of the league table.
The Nerazzurri could still finish level on points with the Partenopei. For this to happen, it would require Inter to draw with Como tomorrow in their final league match of the season, while Napoli lose to Cagliari.
If that were to happen, the Serie A title would go down to a head-to-head playoff between Inter and Napoli.
Serie A President: 'At The Moment, Inter Vs Napoli Title Playoff At San Siro'
MILAN, ITALY – MAY 18: Simone Inzaghi, Head Coach of FC Internazionale, looks on prior to the Serie A match between FC Internazionale and SS Lazio at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on May 18, 2025 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by)
The prospect of a playoff for the title between Inter and Napoli creates some headaches for the Lega Serie A.
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Firstly, there is the matter of where the match would take place.
The league has set it so that the match would be at the home stadium of whichever team has the superior head-to-head, and in the event of parity there, superior goal difference.
That would be Inter Milan. Therefore, the match would be at the San Siro.
However, recent reports indicate that the match could instead be at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome instead, for reasons of 'public order.'
Lega Serie A President Enzo Simonelli stated that 'at the moment, the playoff would be in Milan.'
'The rules state that the match would be played at the stadium of the team with the superior goal difference.'
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'Rome would be a possibility only if there were to be a provision from the Ministry of the Interior prohibiting the Neapolitan fans from travelling to away matches,' Simonelli elaborated.
'But at the moment, there's no such provision.'
'If on Friday evening at 23.00 the teams are level in the table, I would say that the playoff will be played at 20.45 at the San Siro in Milan,' the Lega Serie A President said.
Simonelli Hints At Champions League Change To Playoff
Meanwhile, the fact that Inter are in the Champions League final has created an additional scheduling headache for the league.
Naturally, the Nerazzurri will want as much time to rest and prepare for that match as possible.
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Therefore, Inter pushed to bump their and Napoli's final matches of the season forward. They hoped for the matches to be played today, but instead they will be tomorrow.
That would mean that in the event there is a playoff, it will take place Monday.
That would be five days before the Champions League final. That's hardly ideal in terms of giving Inter time to prepare for their clash with Paris Saint-Germain.
Lega Serie A President Simonelli called the playoff 'the height of sportsmanship.'
'Awarding a title for a season that went on for 38 matches with great sacrifices by all teams on goal difference isn't ideal.'
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'When we decided to introduce the playoff, it was a good decision. Both from a sporting and media point of view.'
'It's a shame that this season it's clashed with such an intense fixture list,' Simonelli continued.
'And with a team playing in the Champions League final, Inter.'
The Lega Serie A President updated that 'On June 6th there will be a meeting to discuss it.'
'But in my opinion, we should keep the playoff. It's a good thing.'
But Simonelli added that 'I'd introduce a rule.'
'If one of the two teams in the playoff is in the Champions League final as well, then we go back to the old rule of the head-to-head or goal difference.'
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'That way we would safeguard the competitiveness of the league. But without penalizing teams playing for a European trophy.'
'In the event of an exceptional case like this season, the team that won according to the old criteria wins.'
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