When and how will the Rome derby be played? The problem of public order, the intersection with tennis and a labyrinth with no way out that embarrasses Italian football.
Half of Serie A on the pitch on Monday at aperitif time. Either on Sunday at lunch, or later in the middle of the week with doubts and controversies over an advantage granted to Lazio fresh from the Italian Cup final against Inter. It’s the seemingly no-way-out labyrinth into which the Serie A championship has found itself two days before the bell. A short circuit that revolves around the derby between Rome And Lazioscheduled at the Olimpico but too inconvenient for reasons of public order to be able to be placed without creating chain problems for everyone.
The theme is simple. By order of the Interior Ministry, after the serious clashes in April 2025, the match between the two teams from the capital cannot take place in the evening. Therefore, no postponement of 8.45pm on Sunday and not even the afternoon slot (3pm or 6pm) because a few tens of meters from the Olimpico is the Foro Italico which will host the final of the Italian Internazionali on Sunday 17 May.
The option remains free launch match of 12.30, not unwelcome at the top of the Lega Calcio Serie A, opposed by the Biancoceleste coach Maurizio Sarri but above all not considered optimal by those responsible for public order. The reason? The fears of unrest are so high that even the simple intersection between the derby and the influx and outflow of the approximately ten thousand of the Foro Italico is considered at risk. The problem is not these, obviously, but the Roman and Lazio ultras if it is true that the contemporaneity between Lazio-Inter and the Italian Internazionali has not created any discussion and nor will it create one for the Italian Cup final on Wednesday 13 May.
The short circuit is complete because whatever date and time Roma-Lazio is played, it brings with it half a day of Serie A. In the penultimate round there is contemporaneity for those chasing the same objectives and Gasperini’s Giallorossi are in full battle for a place in the Champions League. Therefore, they must play together in three other matches of the 36th day: Juventus-Fiorentina, Genoa-Milan And Como-Parma. The Naples he could be released in the event of a victory against Bologna which would secure qualification for the richest Europe.
The hypothesis could be Monday 18 May at 6pm. Not in the evening, for obvious reasons, and not even before because it is unthinkable that the Lega Calcio Serie A would accept an afternoon time slot on weekdays. Also on the table are the rights and needs of Dazn and Sky, the broadcasters who broadcast the championship and who will have to sacrifice themselves by losing a prime time with good ratings; they have no say in the matter, like the managers of via Rosellini, when faced with the impositions of the Prefecture and Police Headquarters.
If, however, the half day slipped to Wednesday (always at 6pm), occupying a traditionally more usual slot for football fans, the problem would become one of competitive level playing field. Because Roma, calendar in hand, should enjoy the advantage of playing a Lazio team fresh from the Italian Cup final and give Sarri’s team two or three more days of rest than expected. The way out? None. The League’s mistake was not avoiding dangerous intersections between the Capital derby and tennis, but the real responsible for everything are the fans who set fire to the Olimpico area last April, triggering the reaction of the Interior Ministry. Remembering this when distributing responsibilities for the mess would be and
