Statement from Venezia FC president Duncan Niederauer

Ahead of Venezia's match with Inter Milan at San Siro in Giornata 23 of the 2021/22 Serie A season, Venezia FC president Duncan Niederauer has issued the following statement.

"The battle with Covid continues for the world, and it is now impacting our football championship for the third season in a row.

The League and all of the clubs have worked hard together to manage this as best as we can. From the point of view of Venezia FC, we strive hard to strike the right balance between our players' health and the sanctity of the championship.

We test our players rigorously, sometimes beyond what is required by the rules. We also take every precaution we can to limit contagion, which is very difficult for all of us in the world given the ease with which this variant spreads.

As of this evening, having completed tests yesterday and again this morning, we can state the following as we prepare for our scheduled match against Inter Milan tomorrow:

In keeping with the League's mandate, we submitted a list of 25 players for the match before the noon deadline today. Of the 25 players on this list, 5 had tested positive at the time of our submission. They have previously been isolated from the team and of course are not accompanying the squad to Milan. Those traveling to Milan at this moment have all tested negative in the last 24 hours, and will be tested again tonight as the rules require.

Unless the results of this evening's tests dictate otherwise, it is our intent to play the match vs. Inter Milan at 18:00 on 22 January as scheduled. We are a club who respects the rules and the championship, and our players who are healthy are ready to fight and do their best tomorrow evening. The team we will field is a strong one, and they are prepared to represent Venezia FC like the lions that we are.

We hope that the international break affords all of the clubs to get healthy, so that we can finish the championship strong together."