Parma have been relegated to Serie D after failing to find new owners to wipe out of €22.6m of debt. The club won the Uefa Cup in 1995 and 1999. Given that the population of the city is 190,000, this represented a considerable achievement. However, the club experienced an earlier bankruptcy in 2004 following the Parmalat scandal.
Parma have been relegated to Serie D after failing to find new owners to wipe out of €22.6m of debt. The club won the Uefa Cup in 1995 and 1999. Given that the population of the city is 190,000, this represented a considerable achievement. However, the club experienced an earlier bankruptcy in 2004 following the Parmalat scandal.
Many blame ex-President Tomasso Ghirardi for the demise of the club. The businessman bought the club for around €30million in January 2007.
Parma were never transfer market protagonists in terms of large fees, but Ghirardi oversaw a huge turnover of unknown players with raw potential. This was his way of competing with the giants of Italian football. In the summer of 2013 alone, Ghirardi sanctioned the arrival or departure of over 260 players, mostly youngsters.
Two prospective owners were engaged in talks, but concluded that the club was too compromised to make a sustainable future possible.