Inter Milan will suffer financial loss as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Italian football club's president Steven Zhang told CGTN Europe. But he believes consumer confidence will bounce back quickly once the outbreak is over.

To protect public safety, many football events are being canceled, delayed or being played in empty stadiums. Zhang said the football club will suffer, because playing behind closed doors is less exciting, and ticket revenues will fall.

"But we don't need to think about this too much at this moment, because we believe once the situation of the virus recovers, the consumer confidence, consumer behavior, will eventually recover soon," said Zhang.

Italy's government has taken drastic measures to tackle the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, including closing all schools for 10 days, with all professional sporting events being played behind closed doors for a month.

When asked whether football clubs were spending too much, the Inter Milan president said clubs were now more sustainable, judging from data over the past decade, with governing bodies FIFA and UEFA having regulations to support clubs and the wider football industry.

"All football clubs are paying more and more attention to digitalization, and building a strong organization, not only locally, but also globally, to engage with club owners and stakeholders around the world." Zhang added.

Steven Zhang became the president of Inter Milan 2018, two years after Suning Holdings purchased a majority stake in the football club. 

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