Storms shut Maradona athletics track, but Napoli-Frosinone stands

A regional orange weather alert has closed cemeteries, parks and sports facilities across Naples for 24 hours, including the stadium's athletics track. Saturday's 20:45 CET kick-off against Frosinone is unaffected, with only light rain forecast.

by Gennaro SanninoThursday 8 October, 20:22 CET· 2 hours ago

Lo stadio Diego Armando Maradona di Napoli

Lo stadio Diego Armando Maradona — Foto: Tarkus42 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Storms and torrential downpours hit Naples and the surrounding province on Thursday 8 October, with flooding turning several streets into rivers and causing problems for drivers. The regional Civil Protection agency issued an orange weather alert running from 15:00 on Thursday 8 October until 15:00 on Friday 9 October.

The alert triggered the closure of public and private cemeteries, parks and beaches across the city, along with a number of sports facilities. Besides the athletics track at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium, the San Pietro a Patierno, Ascarelli and Caduti di Brema facilities remain shut, as do the Soccavo multi-purpose centre, the Palavesuvio and the Nestore sports centre. The forecast for the coming days points to scattered rain, at times heavy or stormy, locally moderate in intensity.

One point worth clarifying for anyone already holding a ticket: the closure applies to the athletics track that runs around the pitch, not the Maradona pitch itself, and Saturday's match is not at risk. The forecast for kick-off time is in fact reassuring, with cloudy skies and at most light rain.

Saturday 10 October's appointment at the Maradona, 20:45 CET, for matchday six of the league season against Frosinone, is therefore confirmed, with Feliciani refereeing and Cosso on VAR. It is a week Allegri's side was already facing with injury troubles — Vergara out with a soleus problem, Favasuli and Olivera sidelined or doubtful, Anguissa in doubt — and for once the weather has chosen not to add to the list of problems.

The city has been put under real strain by the bad weather at the very moment it prepares to welcome more than two thousand Frosinone supporters in an away end expanded to 2,482 seats. The flooding reflects the genuine daily disruption facing those who use the affected streets, while at the Maradona the only concrete concern ahead of kick-off remains a sporting one: an attack and a midfield that need rebuilding piece by piece.