Troubled Parma plummet into Italy’s amateur leagues

Sport360 staff 09:13 23/06/2015
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  • Parma were deducted points for the club's failure to pay players and staff.

    Parma will drop into Serie D, the top tier of Italy’s amateur leagues, after administrators received no takeover offers prior to yesterday’s deadline.

    Parma ended a nightmarish 2014/15 campaign bottom of the Serie A table having been deducted points on several occasions for the club’s failure to pay players and staff as they sunk into the financial doldrums.

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    They were declared bankrupt in March and went into administration pending the search for investors to take over the club and pay off a €22.6m (Dh94.2m) debt. Despite automatically dropping into Serie B, the club’s failure to find a buyer mean they are set to fall into Serie D.

    American-Italian Mike Piazza (r) and Italian Giuseppe Corrado were reported to be heading separate takeover bids in recent days. But Corrado walked away from talks on Sunday night, and Monday morning La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that Piazza had also ended his interest.

    “It is with great sadness and regret that I have to announce the end of talks to purchase Parma FC,” said Piazza.

    It is a spectacular fall from grace for the club, whose former players include Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Lillian Thuram and Hernan Crespo, and punched above its weight to challenge for the Scudetto in 1996/1997, finishing two points behind champions Juventus.

    During their 1992-2002 heyday, Parma claimed seven trophies including two UEFA Cups, three Coppa Italias, a European Super Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup.

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