from Serie C after the cash-strapped club fielded a side containing
seven players for a fixture against Cuneo at the weekend, a game which
the home side won 20-0.
It has now emerged that of those seven players, six were youth
teamers and one the club masseuse, as the club’s senior players and
staff refused to travel in an ongoing dispute over unpaid wages; the
club has not paid its players and staff since last August.
Pro Piacenza had failed to honour their previous three fixtures due
to a lack of players and took to the pitch on Sunday in depleted form in
an effort to avoid being kicked out of the league. However, the Italian
Football Federation (FIGC) released a statement on Monday to the effect
that Pro Piacenza had been excluded and fined 20,000 euros.
In a statement, the FIGC said that Pro Piacenza has been disqualified
from professional competition for failing to comply with league
regulations following a complaint filed by the Italian Footballers’
Association union chief, Damiano Tomassi, who described Pro Piacenza’s
line-up as “playing with the dignity” of the rest of the sides in Serie
C.
The FIGC also annulled Cuneo’s 20-0 victory, handing the
Piedmont-based side a 3-0 win instead. All of the results involving Pro
Piacenza in the 2018-19 campaign have also been expunged, with the
authorities stating “these matches will not be taken into account as
regards the league table.”
Pro Piacenza were propping up Serie C Group A with just eight points from 20 games and a goal difference of minus 41.
