A particularly important day yesterday for the fate of the Series B 2019-2020. The day opened with the ruling of the national federal court of the FIGC On the administrative offense charged by the prosecutor's office to the Palermo enshrining the Sicilian club's relegation to Serie C.
"The National Federal Tribunal - Disciplinary Section chaired by Cesare Mastrocola has relegated Palermo to last place in the Serie B championship of the current sports season. The club was sanctioned for a series of management irregularities by some former managers. The TFN declared inadmissible the referral against Maurizio Zamparini, who was chairman of Palermo's Board of Directors at the time of the facts, while it imposed 5 years' inhibition with preclusion on Anastasio Morosi and 2 years' inhibition on Giovanni Giammarva, chairman of the Board of Statutory Auditors and chairman of the company's Board of Directors, respectively", reads the note from the FIGC.
The official statement of the TFN reads, "The Board believes that the picture that has emerged from the events described above appears in all its gravity, suitable to highlight the performance of a systematic activity aimed at circumventing the principles of sound financial management and aimed at representing in a manner not faithful to reality the state of health of the referred company. In the face of these circumstances, it resulted in the performance of clearly elusive activities, suitable for not photographing the real situation of the company, continued uninterruptedly from 2015 to 2018 and having their apex in relation to the financial statements as of June 30, 2016, the alterations of which, as far as it appears from the acts subject to the judgment, allowed to achieve registration in the 2017/2018 soccer championship".
Then, yesterday afternoon, the Lega Serie B Governing Council made a unique decision: it made the Tfn ruling immediately enforceable, thus ordering Palermo's relegation to the last place in the league, resulting in its relegation to Serie C, and decided, in addition, to cancel the playout by confirming the three teams relegated on the field (Foggia, Padova, Carpi) to which Palermo is added.
Below is the full note from the B League:
"The Governing Council of the Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie B, meeting today, having regard to the ruling published on May 13, 2019 by the National Federal Court, immediately enforceable, regarding U.S. Città di Palermo, unanimously resolved to proceed with the playoff matches with the dates already scheduled last April 29. In accordance with the aforementioned device, it proceeds with the completion of the relegations, three of which have already taken place on the field on May 11, 2019 (Foggia, Padova, Carpi) and the fourth (Palermo) decided by the Sports Justice".