The AC Milan vs Como Serie A match in Perth will go ahead as planned after concerns were resolved

The proposed Serie A match between AC Milan and Como in Perth, Australia, in February will go ahead as planned, Serie A president Ezio Simonelli said Media set ‌on Thursday.

Italian media reported last week that the match was unlikely to take place after Serie A raised concerns about unacceptable conditions imposed by the Asian Football Confederation, with Simonelli subsequently saying it was still a work in progress.

However, Simonelli has now said that the issues have been resolved, particularly regarding the appointment of match referees, following discussions with former Italian top referee and chairman of the FIFA Refereeing Commission, Pierluigi Collina.

“We had a series of doubts about some conditions that had been set and that we considered impractical, for example the request to use referees from the Asian Federation, because we have great confidence in our Italian referees,” Simonelli said. Media set.

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«Collina reassured us about the quality of the Asian referees and highlighted a number of officials who could be assigned the match. That was the hardest thing to accept, the biggest obstacle, but we overcame that thanks to Collina’s reassurances,» Simonelli added.

The Italian FA approved Serie A’s request to move the Milan-Como match on February 8 due to the unavailability of San Siro as it hosts the opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.

UEFA reluctantly approved the Serie A match in October in a decision that also affected La Liga’s plan to stage a league match between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami this month, which was later canceled due to strong domestic opposition.

Published on December 19, 2025