Coppa Final time agreed

The first leg of the Coppa Italia Final between Roma and Inter in the Italian capital will kick-off at 18.00 local time on Wednesday, it has been confirmed.

The Giallorossi were hoping for a late evening start in a bid to attract more of a crowd, but the government body assigned with rating matches consider the tie a high-risk event.

As a result, the game has been brought forward to early evening to guarantee public order and security.

The kick-off time was set after a meeting between Rome’s Police prefect Achille Serra and Lega Calcio chief Antonio Matarrese.

The latter has accepted the decision, but is hopeful that things will change once the 2007-08 campaign starts.

"This match is rated as a ‘risk three’ and that is why we agreed with Serra to play it at 18.00," he stated. "We accepted the decision after the National Observatory committed to change its future attitude with regard to sporting events.

"Next year the situation will change and the state of emergency will end.

"We have suffered enough damage this year and hopefully things will improve. In this case I am disappointed for the Roma supporters."

The National Observatory was set-up in the aftermath of the Catania riots which saw a police officer killed in February.