Milan: Italian third-tier side Pro Piacenza have been booted out of Serie C, Monday after fielding a team of just seven players in a 0-20 drubbing at the hands of league rivals Cuneo, governing body Lega Pro has announced.
Financially troubled Pro Piacenza, a club from northern Italy, have been unable to pay their players and staff who have been on strike for several weeks. Before Sunday’s game at Cuneo in Piedmont, bottom-placed club Pro Piacenza had already forfeited three matches and a fourth would have seen them kicked out of Serie C.
So they took to the pitch with seven players, all teenagers born between 2000 and 2002. An eighth player who could not initially start having forgotten his identity papers came on after an hour.
One of the two players born in 2000 was named on the match sheet as the coach, with a team physiotherapist even taking to the pitch at one point to substitute a player who was suffering from cramps.
Italian Football Federation president Gabriele Gravina had slammed the match as ‘an insult to sport’ and vowed it would be ‘the last farce’.
Lega Pro sports judge Pasquale Marino ruled that Pro Piacenza would be excluded from Serie C, with the ‘farcical match’ assigned as a 3-0 defeat.
In a statement, Lega Pro slammed ‘Pro Piacenza’s unacceptable behaviour’ which it said was also dangerous for players who had not been adequately prepared from a competitive point of view.
Physio Alessio Picciarelli, who came onto the pitch to replace a player, was disqualified until December 31, 2019. Pro Piacenza will also have to pay a fine of 20,000 euros (USD 22,615).
A lawyer representing around 15 players has filed for bankruptcy amidst rumours that the Piacentini club owes a whopping 500,000 euros.
AFP