Milan to play Genoa and Fiorentina 60 hours apart – why the regulations permit it

After the away match in Cagliari, AC Milan will face both Genoa and Fiorentina in very quick succession, and some confusion has arisen.

As MilanNews writes, Milan will play on Thursday January 8th at 20:45 CET at San Siro against Genoa, and on Sunday January 11th at 15:00 CET at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence against Fiorentina. Less than 72 hours will pass between the two matches, therefore, which has caused a stir.

However, as it turns out, there is no actual condition which states that there must be a greater amount of time between the two games. The official regulation reads as follows:

“Between two consecutive matches played by the same Club, regardless of official national or European competitions, there must be at least two match-free calendar days.

“Therefore, if a match is scheduled for a Tuesday, the Club may play the previous match no later than Saturday and the following match no earlier than Friday.

“If a match is scheduled for a Thursday, the Club may play the previous match no later than Monday and the following match no earlier than 3:00 PM on Sunday.”

FIFA have put forward a proposal calling for a minimum 72-hour break between matches, but this is still under discussion. The Serie A current regulations, however, stipulate that at least two calendar days must elapse between matches, not explicitly 72 hours.

Therefore, as has already happened in other cases with Bologna and Roma – teams competing in the Europa League – there is no exception to the rules for Allegri’s team to play Milan-Genoa and Fiorentina-Milan within 72 hours of each other.