Tino Asprilla, Hernan Crespo, Juan Sebastian Veron, Lilian Thuram, Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro. Ask a fan of Italian football about Parma and the teams from the 1990’s which included those lofty names would likely spring to mind. Wearing the iconic yellow and blue shirts – sponsored by Parmalat – this side would twice win the UEFA cup in that decade, adding victories in the European Cup Winners Cup and the European Supercup to boot.
Yet years of outrageous mismanagement following that success would see the club eventually made bankrupt and relegated to Serie D in 2014/15. Supporters would rally round and buy shares in the club and sensible owners were appointed, ensuring that future of the Emilia-Romagna outfit would never again be put in jeopardy. They would become the first ever side to achieve back-to-back promotions as they reached the Italian top flight at the end of the 2017/18 campaign, but there were more problems in store.
Following their advancement to Serie A, 36-year-old striker Emanuele Calaio was accused of having sent text messages to Spezia players before a crucial promotion match between the two teams. While Calaio and Parma assured that the content of the messages was purely a joke between the player and his former Spezia team-mates, it was alleged that they were “eliciting a reduced effort” and therefore – after a superhuman effort to return to prominence – Parma were facing an immediate relegation to Serie B.
Thankfully for their supporters, the FIGC ruled that Parma would remain in the division, albeit with a five-point deduction and Calaio would be banned for two years. This will see the newly-promoted side with a mountain to climb even before a ball has been kicked, but this club are used to fighting against adversity and will appeal against the sentence.
Parma weren’t the only club in trouble with prosecutors from Italian football’s governing body this summer either. Chievo Verona battled to avoid relegation last term, but were up in court facing accusations of knowingly having inflated the transfer fees of minor players by up to 9,000% when dealing with Cesena, the latter having already been declared bankrupt in the close season.
The FIGC put forward a potential 15 point penalty for the team nicknamed the “Flying Donkeys”, a sanction that would see them relegated to Serie B and replaced by Crotone. However, the Veronese outfit only escaped punishment due to a technicality, an error with paperwork in which the charges failed to be submitted in the correct manner.
Now, it’s said that they will face a new hearing between August 6th and 10th, meaning it remains unclear whether Chievo – who supposedly face Juventus in Cristiano Ronaldo’s first match in Bianconero – will start the campaign in the top flight or not.
That in turn will leave hardly any time at all for either Chievo or indeed Crotone to make their preparations for the campaign ahead.
