Sabatini defends Massara's Roma work as he joins Juventus

Roma's 2024–25 season ticket renewal campaign opened this morning at 10:00, surpassing 11,000 renewals within approximately nine hours. The initial renewal window runs until 20 July, with a peak of around 3,000 supporters queuing online simultaneously during the morning rush. The club has confirmed a capacity ceiling of 40,000 season tickets across the Stadio Olimpico, matching the figure reached in the previous season. A second renewal phase opens on 20 July at 12:00 and closes on 23 July at 13:00. The third phase, scheduled for 23–27 July, will handle renewals involving seat or section changes. After these phases, sales will open to supporters on the waiting list, which currently includes more than 25,000 giallorossi supporters.

Walter Sabatini has defended Riccardo Massara's work at Roma, days after Massara was appointed to head Juventus's technical area. Speaking to Tuttosport, Sabatini praised Massara's professionalism during his time at the Giallorossi, saying: "Unfortunately at Roma he became a fine catalyst for nonsense: they pointed the finger at him for everything, but he was always silent. Polite, educated, he worked tremendously behind the scenes and never stepped out of line. He was always on top of things, never sparked any argument with Gasperini, indeed he tried in every way to avoid clashes. Roma's Champions League success was a triumph for the coach, the squad and the club. It's too convenient to exclude Massara from the credit—his work was important too." Sabatini went on to address the relationship between Massara and head coach Gian Piero Gasperini, saying they think about life and working relationships in completely different ways. "They are day and night," Sabatini explained. "The things that were said about Ricky speak for themselves. He deserved Juventus, but most of all he didn't deserve to be mistreated as he was in recent months."

Roma will return to their Fulvio Bernardini training centre on Monday for the start of their summer retreat, marking the official beginning of preparations for the new season. The squad will work at reduced strength initially, with several key players still absent due to international commitments. The first two weeks will combine training sessions with a series of friendlies to build match fitness. Roma's opening friendly schedule has undergone a change: the originally planned match against Roma City has been cancelled and replaced by a fixture against Sorianese, an Eccellenza-level club from the Lazio region, on 16 July. Between 19 and 24 July, the club will play two further internal tests, facing the Primavera side and then Trastevere. This framework of fixtures will allow the coaching staff to gradually integrate players returning from their respective national team duties.