#INSERT type:image caption:Antonio Cassano had his playing contract with cash-strapped Parma cancelled. END#
The president of the Italian Professional Footballers' Association (AIC) Damiano Tommasi has expressed his concern at the developments at Parma.
The Gialloblu's players have not been receiving a wage for nine months and Antonio Cassano walked away from the club last month, saying the situation was no longer tenable.
Daniele Galloppa has set the club a deadline of Feb. 15 to pay outstanding wages, or at least some of them, and Tommasi said he is keeping a close eye on events.
Parma were taken over at the end of last year by a Cypriot-Russian consortium while their new president, Kodra, is Albanian.
The payment of wages is not the only concern Tommasi has, however.
"When you take to the field in a situation of emergency and blatant economic difficulty, as is the case with Parma, there is a risk of getting involved in incorrect practices for the world of sport and this risk then becomes difficult for the players," Tommasi is quoted as saying by La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"Considering what has happened in recent years and is sadly still happening internationally in terms of betting and the regularity of leagues, it is worrying."
The suggestion is Parma could be lured into illegal betting to raise additional funds, fixing their own matches this season having fallen into a situation Tommasi said should never happen to a Serie A club.
"It's intolerable in Serie A today," he said. "With television contracts, there is the chance to plan for many years ahead. We are seriously concerned. After the deadline [imposed by Galloppa] in mid-February, it is only right that the players will want to be looked after."
Severe licensing rules should be introduced, according to Tommasi. Parma's failure to secure a licence to appear in the Europa League this season should have been seen as a warning sign and a possible exclusion from Serie A could have been contemplated before the situation degenerated.
"We've seen that the regulations are not sufficient to avoid a club reaching February having paid only one month of wages from the very start of the season," Tommasi added. "A Serie A club should not be permitted to miss even one month of wages.
"We need more restrictions considering that we are talking about entities which, on the one hand, have guarantees in the form of lucrative [television] contracts."