The opening day of the 2011-12 Serie A campaign has been called off after the Italian players' association (AIC), Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and the Lega Calcio failed to reach a deal regarding a collective bargaining agreement.

Damiano Tommasi, president of (AIC), stated on Wednesday that it was unlikely that the planned strike would be called off and his fears have now come true.

AIC made a last ditch attempt to ward off the strike on Friday as they proposed a stop-gap solution that would give the parties involved more time to find a permanent solution.

Nevertheless, the proposed bridge-contract based on the agreements reached so far between the different parties, which would expire on 30 June 2012, was swiftly rejected by Lega Calcio.

"There will be no Serie A this weekend. We tried right up until the end, but ultimately all the talks were in vain," Tommasi was quoted as saying by reporters.

The biggest talking point is the so-called article seven about players who are deemed surplus to requirements by their coaches. AIC insists that those players should be allowed to train with the rest of the squad, while the clubs want autonomy for the coaches.

The Italian government's decision to introduce an extra tax on wages over €90,000 per year has been the other issue that prevented parties from reaching agreement. The clubs feel that the players must pay the tax, rather than the clubs, while AIC feels the employers are responsible for paying the extra money.

no way, please tell me this is not true, cos I just called off from work....

Unbelievable.. my last weekend at home before university and the first round is called off..

I thought it was bad a week ago when I was complaining about the negative marketing effect of starting Serie A later than all of the other leagues. Now, the season start is delayed indefinitely. This is going screw over Serie A's general global popularity even more.

Juventude wrote:I thought it was bad a week ago when I was complaining about the negative marketing effect of starting Serie A later than all of the other leagues. Now, the season start is delayed indefinitely. This is going screw over Serie A's general global popularity even more.

La Liga was delayed to

DeviAngel wrote:

Juventude wrote:I thought it was bad a week ago when I was complaining about the negative marketing effect of starting Serie A later than all of the other leagues. Now, the season start is delayed indefinitely. This is going screw over Serie A's general global popularity even more.

La Liga was delayed to

I guess that's something. I just want to watch some Serie A rather than waking up to Wolverhampton-Aston Villa this morning.

I'd beg to differ, I'd rather watch Juventus without many injured players, than watch them with out our starters. This is better for us.

Oh, it's great for Juve, bad for the league.

I MISS watching SERIE A!!!

salmano9 wrote:I MISS watching SERIE A!!!

Me too, hopefully It wont be too long untill its resolved... only positive thing meanwhile is seeing Liverpool doing good in premier league, like watching them so they will have to entertain me whilst I cant see Juve or other serie A games. Or I might just comfort me with playing seria A in Football manager :/

sadly, the match is 1 day before first day of skool