'It can’t be true': Parma return to Serie A after three straight promotions

Parma were declared bankrupt and relegated to Serie D in 2015. Now the club is ‘back where we belong’

By Yousef Teclab for The Gentleman Ultra

It took the court just 10 minutes to declare Parma FC bankrupt in March 2015. The quick decision ended months of torment in which the club had been docked points on several occasions; players and staff had gone without their wages; games had been postponed because they could not pay stewards; the club had been sold – twice – for €1; and, having finished sixth in Serie A the season before, they had sunk to the bottom of the league.

Mercifully, Parma were allowed to finish the season in Serie A, with relegation to Serie B a formality. However, when the club could not find a new buyer or pay their debts – which totalled $218m, including unpaid wages of €63m – they were denied a place in Serie B and were folded for the second time in a decade. They would have to start the 2015-16 season, as Parma Calcio 1913, in Serie D.

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