Parma: The club that was sold for 1 euro

CAIRO – 20 August 2017: Ever since the beginning of the 1990's Parma emerged as a dominant football force, not only in Italy but in Europe wholly. However, the Italian club faced two financial crises that took them from Seria A (Italian first division) to Seria D (Italy's lowest division).

Egypt Today decided to look back and talk about the club that saw European and Italian success in the 1990's but then was sold for only one euro ($1.18) in 2014.

After Parma's promotion to Seria A in the early 1990's, Parmalat, an Italian company decided to invest in the club in order to win European and Italian trophies.

From the 1990's to the early 2000's, Parma saw a period of success where they were able to win the Coppa Italia three times, UEFA Cup two times, European Super Cup, European Winners Cup and Supercoppa Italiana for one time.

The club's success was halted in 2004 after being declared bankrupt due to Parmalat being accused of tax fraud. The club entered a four year dark phase where the management of the club was under special and controlled administration disabling the club to achieve any European success.

In 2004, Parma saw a period of inconsistency, changing a lot of managers, and seeing several drawbacks. The club ended the following season without participating in European competitions for the first time since the early 1990's. Things went downhill further when the Italian, Tommaso Ghirardi, bought the club on January 2007.

Ghirardi came with a lot of promises to improve the club and regain its European stance; however, he left with Parma being in debt looking for a savior. Parma did not witness better days with Ghirardi but suffered from the same managerial inconsistency that they changed many managers in 2007 alone, and as a result, Parma was relegated to Seria B at the end of the season. The club managed to be promoted in the following season after coming second and Parma’s performance varied the next few seasons from either finishing mid-table or avoiding relegation.

At the end of Ghirardi’s reign, Parma suffered financially. The club was not able to pay the taxes due to the lack of funding by Ghirardi. Ghirardi took advantage of this failure to receive the UEFA license and decided to sell the club on October 2014.

An Albanian called Rezart Taci bought the club believing that it only had to pay € 40-50 million, but in reality Parma had to pay € 200 million. Taci was not able to cope with this crisis; after a month and a half of being president of Parma, Taci sold the club to an Italian named Giampietro Manenti for only one euro.

The history of Parma, the championships they won, all the hard work was sold for 1 euro. The news came like a cold shower to all Parma supporters. Their club that was worth millions was sold for one euro.

Manenti who bought Parma for 1 euro was arrested the next moth for being accused of money laundering. The club was in agony. The players of the team were the ones who were funding the club without receiving any wages. Sometimes, they found it difficult to pay the stewards or even find a bus that would take them to an away game. Having minimum to no facilities the players decided to take action.

The players decided not to play Parma’s upcoming match against the Udinese in order to inform the Italian media and the Italian FA of how the club is falling apart and most people are doing nothing about it.

This incident made it clear that Parma are going to be relegated to the Seria D due to being bankrupt and that there were very few people who actually cared about this prestigious club. Towards the end of the 2015 season, Parma was officially declared bankrupt and was to go to the Seria D. The club had reached a state that where they found themselves selling their trophies in order to receive money.

Parma was re-founded on the summer of 2015; changing its name from Parma to Parma Calcio 1913, which was the year when Parma was originally founded. Parma’s former manager Nevio Scala who led them to European and Italian success was the new president of the club. Parma’s veteran forward Hernan Crespo was appointed director of the club in the summer of 2017.

The club received its promotion from Seria C to Seria B last season and will be looking to gain its promotion to Italy’s first division this year. The 40 year old Parma Alessandro Lucarelli is Parma’s current captain who remained loyal to the club and refused to leave the club during Parma’s difficult time. Parma supporters consider him not as a Parma player but as a true fan of the club.

The hardship that Parma encountered during the past years does not take from the club’s pride but it adds to the history of this glorious club.