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Parma's fairytale return to Serie A receives boost as 5-point penalty is overturned
NEWLY-PROMOTED PARMA will start the new season on a level footing with the rest of Serie A after a five-point penalty was overturned and replaced with a fine.
The sanction was originally imposed in July by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) after they concluded Parma forward Emanuele Calaio sent “suspicious” messages to Spezia players last term.
Calaio – who used to play for La Spezia – was found to have communicated with former team-mates Filippo De Col and Claudio Terzi ahead of the Serie B fixture between the teams at the end of the 2017/18 season.
In the FIGC’s case document, which named both De Col and Terzi, it accused Calaio of “trying to get less commitment from the players of Spezia”. Parma won the game 2-0 to secure a third successive promotion.
Parma appealed and the FIGC on Thursday announced they have reduced the severity of the punishment to a €20,000 fine.
Calaio, initially banned for two years, has seen that decreased to five months and a €30,000 fine and he will be eligible to play again at the start of 2019.
Parma managing director Luca Carra was satisfied with the verdict, telling the club’s official website:
“And that above all they can be proud, as we are, of a company that has been reborn from the ashes, and that in three years has reached a goal that no one had ever managed to conquer. And above all, nobody will ever be able to stain.”
After two consecutive promotions, Parma open their Serie A campaign at home to Udinese on 19 August.
- Omni
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Serie A Emanuele Calaio Football Grazie Parma Spezia