1. Preface: Parma’s bankruptcy
On 19 March 2015, Serie A club
Parma was declared bankrupt by
the Court of Parma. Since July
20141
, the club had been unable to
pay wages to the players, technical
staff and employees as well as taxes.
During the prior months Parma
changed hands twice. Mr.
Tommaso Ghirardi (who had
owned the club since 2007) sold it
to a Russian-Cypriot conglomerate
linked to Mr. Rezart Taçi, an
Albanese businessman, who sold it
on to Mr. Gianpietro Manenti for
€1. Despite promising to repay the
club’s debts2
, Manenti was unable
to resolve Parma’s financial
difficulties3
.
In February, lack of cash led to
the postponement of two Parma
Serie A home games, given that the
club was unable to pay for even the
most basic services, such as
security and electricity.
Upon Parma’s bankruptcy
declaration, to protect the
regularity of the football season,
the Serie A League agreed to grant
an emergency loan of €5 million
covering Parma’s outgoings until
May 2015, which allowed the club's
designated receivers to proceed
with operations on a provisional
basis.
While the club is operational, its
sports licence can be attributed to a
new company through an
insolvency auction controlled by
the designated receivers until 30
June 2015, under the terms and
conditions set forth in Articles 16
and 52 of the Federation’s Internal
Regulations (‘NOIF’). Had the club
been wound up, the rest of its
fixtures would have been declared
3-0 walkovers to the opponents.
The FIGC intervention
A new club’s licensing system
As mentioned above, FIGC had to
ensure - albeit belatedly - that
similar financial failures will not be
repeated. As such, on 26 March
2015, the FIGC’s Council
unanimously approved the
adoption of new provisions, which
were announced by the President,
Mr. Tavecchio, to be “a different
and innovative concept for clubs’
licensing.” The new clubs’ licensing
system will be enforced with
immediate effect revealing a four-
year plan to roll out a domestic
financial fair play test, which will
assess assets and liabilities and act
as a liquidity indicator. Serie A
clubs will be required to comply
with the new, progressive rules
starting with the next football
season (2015/2016)4
.
The fundamental goal of the new
provision is to guarantee clubs’
liquidity by means of a suitable
monitoring system. The intention
is to achieve economic stability
within the following four football
seasons (i.e. by 2018/2019), by way
of introducing specific parameters
that clubs will have to comply with
in order to achieve a break-even
budget. The rules - similar to
UEFA’s Financial Fair Play
measures - aim at ensuring that
clubs do not spend more than they
earn.
From the 2015/2016 football
season: (i) any applicant club must
demonstrate that it has no overdue
debts with respect to foreign clubs
(regarding footballers’ transfers)
and all employed personnel
(including non-football staff); and
(ii) a new liquidity ratio will be
introduced which will measure the
clubs’ short-term financial stability,
i.e. their capacity to meet their
financial commitments due within
twelve months. If a club breaches
this ratio, the financial shortage
will need to be recapitalised.
New rules on clubs’ ownership
The Italian Football Federation
introduced standards for club
ownership, by means of general
principles which must be
implemented by each of the three
professional football leagues before
30 June 2015. Any individual
person or legal entity proposing to
acquire at least 10% of a club’s
share capital must meet the
following criteria on integrity and
financial status: (i) absence of any
final conviction with respect to (a)
offences under law n. 401/1989 on
sporting fraud and law n. 376/2000
on doping, (b) crimes of fraud and
embezzlement and (c) any other
crime with a maximum penalty
exceeding five years imprisonment;
(ii) ‘antimafia’ verification under
Legislative Decree n. 159/2011; and
(iii) assessment and certification of
financial stability and legality of
the invested funds by a primary
bank.
World Sports Law Report - April 2015 13
REGULATION
The current reform process of
the Italian Football Federation
In recent months, the Italian Football
Federation (‘FIGC’) has been
required to bring into force two
important new sets of rules. The
first piece of regulation was
prompted by the ‘Parma case’ and
the second consists in the domestic
transposition of the new FIFA
Regulations governing
intermediaries. The unfortunate
bankruptcy of the once glorious
Emilian club compelled the FIGC to
toughen the national licensing rules
and introduce new regulations in
relation to the ownership of clubs.
As to football agents, FIGC was
required to publish its own
supplemental regulations on
intermediaries by 1 April. Luca
Ferrari, Edoardo Revello and Marco
Tieghi of Studio Legale Withers,
examine the new rules and
regulations, which will have a
significant impact on Italian
professional football.

2. World Sports Law Report - April 2015
commission may be paid by a club
for the employment of an amateur
player. Arguably, the foregoing
limitations restrict FIFA’s general
prohibition of payments to
intermediaries in connection with
transactions involving a minor.
As regards dispute resolution, the
new Italian regulations have lifted
the previous provisions prohibiting
recourse to ordinary courts.
Indeed, the parties to the
representation contract may
submit disputes to arbitration or
ordinary national courts.
Accordingly, it appears that the
FIGC will not have exclusive
jurisdiction over intermediaries.
Under Article 9 of the FIGC
Regulations a newly instituted
Sports Agents Committee is in
charge of all disciplinary
proceedings.
As part of the transitional
measures, the FIGC has stated that
within one year of the entry into
force of the regulations, it will
adopt any changes, which may be
thought beneficial as a result of
further discussion with FIFA and
other national associations.
Luca Ferrari Partner
Edoardo Revello Associate
Marco Tieghi Trainee
Studio Legale Withers, Milan
luca.ferrari@withersworldwide.com
edoardo.revello@withersworldwide.com
marco.tieghi@withersworldwide.com
1. According to the judgment, the club’s
debts amounted to approximately €215
million.
2. Mr. Manenti claimed to represent a
Slovenian group, which has always
remained shrouded in mystery. He failed
to provide the capital required to keep
the club afloat. Mr. Manenti was
subsequently arrested by the Italian
authorities on charges of embezzlement
and money laundering not related to
Parma’s acquisition. The Prosecutor’s
Office of Parma stated that the Mr.
Manenti’s arrest was related to a group
of fraudsters and money launderers, who
were believed to have moved millions of
Euros from a Swiss bank by using
cloned credit cards.
3. The first alarm bell was sounded at
the beginning of the current football
season, under the Presidency of Mr.
Tommaso Ghirardi, following the club’s
failure to obtain a UEFA licence to
compete in the UEFA Europa League.
Parma started competing in the Italian
Serie A, but soon their financial
weakness inevitably rose to the surface.
Prior to its bankruptcy, the club was hit
with a three-point penalty by FIGC’s
regulatory body for non-payment of
outstanding salaries. The club received a
one point deduction in December 2014
and another two point deduction in
February 2015 by the Federal Tribunal of
FIGC. The club’s former President, Mr.
Ghirardi, and the General Director, Mr.
Pietro Leonardi, were also sanctioned
with a four-month ban.
4. New regulations will also be extended
to Serie B and the Lega Pro (third
division) clubs, as soon as approved by
the next Federal Council.
5. In order to facilitate the exchange of
information, FIFA should create a global
database by means of which each
association would be allowed to monitor
and control intermediaries’ activity as
recorded by any other national governing
body.
6. The recommended cap is the object
of the Association of Football Agents
complaint before the European
Commission for infringement of EU
competition rules (under Articles 101 and
102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of
the European Union).
REGULATION
14
Italian regulations on
intermediaries
The FIGC’s Council also approved
new regulations on intermediaries,
following FIFA’s invitation that all
national associations implement
and enforce domestic regulations
based on the specific minimum
requirements set forth under the
new rules on intermediaries, which
came into force on 1 April.
FIGC has implemented the
international standards with few
specific variations. Firstly, an
Italian intermediary shall be
registered with the Federation (i)
on a yearly basis seamlessly or (ii)
only in the event of a specific
representation contract’s
submission, signed by and between
an intermediary and player and/or
a club.
Under Article 4.10 of FIGC
Regulations, a foreign
intermediary, intending to operate
in favour of an Italian club or a
player registered in Italy, must be
either (i) assisted by an Italian
intermediary registered with the
FIGC or (ii) registered with a
National Football Federation with
which FIGC has an exchange of
information by means of bilateral
agreements (a ‘mutual
relationship’)5
.
A representation or engagement
contract may cover a period of
time, rather than a given
transaction, however it cannot
exceed two years (the international
standards impose no such time
restriction).
FIGC echoed at the domestic
level FIFA’s 3% commission
recommendation, subject to
conflicting overriding statutory
provision6
.
It is worth noting that, under
Article 6.4 of FIGC Intermediaries
Regulations, if a player signs an
employment agreement at the
minimum wage no commission
will be due to the player’s
intermediary. Similarly, no
As part of the
transitional
measures,
the FIGC has
stated that
within one
year of the
entry into
force of the
regulations, it
will adopt any
changes,
which may
be thought
beneficial as
a result of
further
discussion
with FIFA and
other national
associations