Fiorentina and Cagliari have made the joint decision to retire former player Davide Astori's number 13 shirt in tribute to the late defender.

Astori died suddenly at the weekend ahead of La Viola's meeting with Udinese, leading to mass tributes from the footballing world.

Serie A clubs Fiorentina and Cagliari have now announced that Astori's shirt number of choice will remain vacant on a permanent basis.

All seven games due to take place in the Italian top flight on Sunday were postponed as news filtered through of the 31-year-old's death.

Fiorentina have reportedly been forced to deny that they have extended Astori's contract, however, which has been put down to a cruel hoax.