Salernitana players were hospitalised with food poisoning after coming south from a 2-0 defeat in the first leg of their Serie B relegation play-off against Sampdoria.
Salernitana announced on Monday that training had been cancelled after 21 members of the playing and training staff contracted “serious food poisoning”, which caused illness during Sunday’s return trip to Salerno from the northern port city of Genoa.
“The situation required the intervention of ambulances on arrival at Salerno airport and the hospitalisation of a significant number of those concerned,” added Salernitana.
According to Italian media, 16 players were hospitalised, eight of them were members of the playing squad, and police visited the hotel where Salernitana players slept before the first match and prepared the team’s in-flight meal for the return to Salerno.
Sampdoria were relegated to the third tier for the first time in history last month but were saved by a points deduction for Brescia, which moved the 1991 Italian champions into one of the division’s two relegation play-off spots.
The second leg of the play-off is set for Friday night, but Salernitana has requested that the match be moved to a later date due to a wave of food poisoning.
“We are very concerned about what happened and the series of events which risk undermining our ability to face the final minutes of this season in a normal and calm way,” said Salernitana.
Sampdoria, one of seven Italian clubs that have only participated in the top two leagues, was demoted to Serie B in 2023.
They were about to go bankrupt before being rescued by current president Matteo Manfredi and former Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani, who has since left the club.
The club’s current principal ownership is Singaporean billionaire Joseph Tey.
Club legends Alberico Evani and Attilio Lombardo were hired as coaches in April in a bid to salvage Sampdoria from relegation following substantial transfer market activity last summer and January.
Evani is Sampdoria’s fourth head coach this season, following Andrea Pirlo, Andrea Sottil, and Leonardo Semplice.
