New season fixtures on hold
Tuesday 9 August, 2005

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Thursday’s proposed formulation of the new season’s fixtures has been stopped as
a result of Genoa’s on-going struggle to avoid demotion.

The calendars for the 2005-06 campaign were set to be published later this week,
but that now looks unlikely to happen.

A Genoa tribunal court has successfully ordered the Italian Football Federation
to suspend the composition of the fixtures.

The move comes just 24 hours after Genoa failed in their attempts to be
re-instated into the Italian top-flight.

The port club were demoted to the Third Division earlier this summer, after the
Serie B champions were found guilty of alleged match-fixing in the final game of
last term against Venezia.

The Stadio Marassi outfit unsuccessfully appealed to the Federal Appeal
Commission (CAF) on Monday which seemed to bring an end to the saga.

But the Italian season has been thrown into further chaos, with just 19 days to
go before the scheduled start, as Genoa are now attempting to prove their
innocence with the help of a civil court.

"There have been other situations in football in which different measures have
been taken to that of Genoa," said Alessandro Repetto, President of the Genoa
Province.

"Several come to mind, such as (Roma's Philippe) Mexes' case, and (Juve doctor
Riccardo) Agricola's case.

"We hope that we can suspend the sporting sentence by taking our case to Genoa's
tribunal."

It’s unclear at this stage what the Federation will do or when we will
definitely know which sides will be playing in what Division next term.

Meanwhile, Genoa have been handed a one-game home stadium ban after their fans
caused the abandonment of their Coppa Italia tie over the weekend.

Fans threw flares on to the pitch in protest at their demotion, resulting in
Catanzaro being handed a 3-0 victory and safe passage to the next round.


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Genoa appeal rejected
Genoa's appeal against their demotion to Serie C1, which was imposed following
allegations of match-fixing, has been rejected.

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Messina safe, Toro turfed out
Tuesday 9 August, 2005

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Messina have won their final appeal and will play in Serie A, but the top flight
closes its doors to Torino.

The Sicilian club had originally been excluded from the Division due to
financial irregularities, but the TAR tribunal of Lazio accepted their appeal
that the paperwork was valid and today’s State Counsel decision also went their
way.


Bologna and the FIGC had lodged motions to push Messina out of Serie A, a move
which would’ve promoted the Rossoblu in their place.


“This is a great victory for sport,” stated Messina President Pietro Franza. “My
first thoughts are for the players who have suffered and held out during this
pre-season uncertainty. There were moments of real tension, but they are over
now. It’s our duty to win back the credibility that our image has lost in recent
weeks and strengthen the squad in the final days of the transfer market.”


Torino were not so fortunate, as their appeal has again been rejected and the
club will not be able to play in Serie A this season. The Granata’s registration
included a bank draft covering a £26m debt, but it later proved to be false.
Accepting that Toro were not aware of this, they were given extra time to find
the financial guarantees, but were unable to do so.


“Tomorrow we will present a new bank draft and, though I don’t know what it’ll
achieve, it will at least show we acted in good faith,” said President Attilio
Romero. “We do not deny our responsibilities, but we did everything possible to
resolve the matter. We ran into continual obstacles when we were so close to a
conclusion.”


The Stadio Delle Alpi squad will nonetheless apply for the ‘Lodo Petrucci’, a
rule allowing a bankrupt club to start again in a lower Division with new
owners, so Torino will return to Serie B despite their promotion.


Perugia and Salernitana have also been excluded from Serie B, while Benevento
(C1), Imolese and Rosetana (C2) are ruled out. The State Counsel did accept the
appeals put forward by Gela and Sassari Torres, who will play in Serie C1.


With the Lodo Petrucci in mind, Perugia can drop down to Serie C1, while
Napoli’s many appeals against a series of clubs have not helped them emerge from
the same Division.