Serie B still kicking, say league officials
SERIE B officials have hit back after it was claimed that Italian football’s second tier has been suspended.
Uncertainty has surrounded the start of the Serie B season due to a row over how many teams should be involved.
After a verdict in a court in Rome yesterday, Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) official Franco Frattini told Italian radio the league had been suspended.
A statement later on the league’s website, though, began: “Serie B is not suspended, the championship continues.”
Liam Henderson will certainly be hoping this is the case. The former Hibernian and Celtic midfielder is now at Hellas Verona.
Serie B has had 22 teams since 2004 but three clubs – Avellino, Bari and Cesena – went bankrupt over the summer and it was decided to continue this season without replacing them.
This prompted several legal challenges from teams that were either relegated last season or just missed out on promotion.
It had seemed that these challenges had failed earlier when CONI, the organisation which governs almost all sport in the country, rejected them, but a regional court has now upheld an appeal against that decision from Serie C side Pro Vercelli.
Frattini, the president of CONI’s sports justice court and a legal expert and politician who has twice served as Italy’s foreign minister, told inBlu Radio that football gives him more headaches than the mafia trials he has to preside over.
“The new development is that the court in Lazio, as well as suspending the ruling, has also suspended the league,” said Frattini.
The league insisted this weekend’s fixtures will be played as normal.