Serie A strike over

The Serie A will kick off next weekend after the Italian Players Association (AIC) said a collective bargaining agreement has been reached.

The opening round of games, which were due to begin last weekend, was postponed when the AIC called a strike in protest at the refusal of the union of clubs (LEGA) to sign the collective bargaining contract.

A source from the AIC said on Saturday that the contract was on the verge of being signed early next week in time for the second round of Serie A games.

“The contract will be signed either late morning or early afternoon on Monday, September 5. The only things missing are small technical details,” an AIC source told the Ansa news agency.

“We only need to review a few things tied to the regulations and our lawyers are working on finalising everything.”

The agreement will mean the first fixture of the 2011/12 Serie A campaign will be AC Milan against Lazio on Friday.

It came a day after AIC president Damiano Tommasi said they were optimistic the second round of games would be played.

“We received the proposal from the Lega’s meeting on September 1 and are working on it,” a statement from Tommasi read.

“There is moderate optimism.”