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It’s now almost certain that AC Milan vs. Como will not be played in Perth, according to the latest reports circulating.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport and MilanNews, the lengthy negotiations that have been taking place in recent weeks – which came close to completion – have essentially collapsed. Milan and Lega Serie A have done everything they can to bring this idea to fruition, which arose from commercial considerations.
The conditions imposed by the AFC – the Asian Football Confederation that would have hosted the match – prevented the final green light. It’s logical that, far beyond the on-field aspect, this is a major political game, with divergent interests over the issue of league matches being played in another country or continent.
Why negotiations collapsed
The ending is surprising because Lega, Milan, and Como had agreed to some challenging conditions, such as the choice of referee, to be selected from among the Asian federation’s match officials.
Furthermore, last Thursday, Serie A president Simonelli had gone out on a limb before the Supercoppa Italiana semi-final between Milan and Napoli, declaring that the match would be played in Australia.
“Milan-Como will be played in Perth on February 8th. The meeting with Infantino was very cordial,” Simonelli said. “We had a number of doubts about the conditions imposed for playing the match in Perth.
“Above all, we were required to have foreign referees [including VAR], while we have great faith in our own match officials. We spoke with Collina [chairman of the FIFA Referees Commission], who gave us ample assurances about the quality of these referees.
“He has one or more top-level match officials in mind. We will accept this condition, but then there are other things to sort out.”
Those other things were clearly too high a hurdle. An official announcement, likely via a press release from Lega Serie A officially, is expected soon.
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