Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 9y

Parma match postponed after players threaten to strike

A second consecutive match featuring crisis-hit Parma has been postponed, with the club still unable to provide basic services and on the brink of financial failure.

Italian Football Association (FIGC) president Carlo Tavecchio announced the postponement of Sunday's match at Genoa following a federation board meeting Friday, shortly after Parma's players had asked for the postponement -- threatening a boycott otherwise.

Last-place Parma has been sold twice this season and last weekend's home match against Udinese was also postponed indefinitely because the club couldn't afford to pay for security and electricity. The players have not been paid all season and a bankruptcy hearing has been set for March 19.

Earlier Parma's players threatened to go on strike if their trip to Genoa this weekend was not postponed. Having previously offered to cover the cost of the trip by themselves, a further meeting with the Italian Professional Footballers' Association (AIC) -- which has called for all matches in Serie A this weekend to start with a delay of 15 minutes to show solidarity with Parma's players -- instead led them to request the game be rescheduled.

"We've asked for the game to be postponed because the conditions are not right to play," Parma captain Allesandro Lucarelli said, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport. "If they don't accept then we'll go on strike. We're not going to play again until the [Lega Serie A] assembly, which is scheduled for March 6.

"We're going to continue along our path. We don't feel anybody is taking care of us."

Rather than training for Sunday's fixture at Genoa, Parma's players were in a meeting with the prosecutor's office on Friday morning.

"We were ordered to go there," Lucarelli said. "We had no choice. All we want to do is have the game postponed because if we go on strike then we lose it 3-0.

"Playing a Serie A game now would not be right. It's up to the federation to evaluate it but our decision has been taken in agreement with Genoa's players. The players have decided to wait another week to understand if even [Parma president Giampietro] Manenti can move things forward.

"It's a situation which requires extraordinary measures. Right now, Parma cannot play."

Meanwhile, Manenti was due to meet with the mayor of Parma, Federico Pizzarotti, on Friday afternoon. In a tweet published by Pizzarotti, he said it is Manenti's last chance "or I will no longer consider talking to him."

Parma's Serie A fixture with Udinese was called off last weekend after the players refused to play behind closed doors at the Stadio Tardini. Not enough funds were available to stage the game with fans in attendance.

Meanwhile, Tavecchio warned it will be the last time Parma get such a concession.

"It's an extremely serious event from an administrative point of view, and I believe it is one which cannot be repeated," Tavecchio said. "I've been convinced to take this step by the FA's advisors, but I take personal responsibility for it.

"Considering the moral, ethical, individual and sporting state of the players, I felt it was right to postpone this game, but I cannot do this every Sunday. Last Sunday, the game was postponed because the team did not want to play behind closed doors. I didn't want to humiliate them. The steps I hoped would have been taken in the meantime have not been taken.

"Parma are falling apart, but the FIGC has no responsibility for the club defaulting, neither for what happened last summer nor for today. At this moment in time, nobody can give a Euro to a club which is going bankrupt, but has not yet gone bankrupt.

"Therefore, considering the state of mind of the players, and having evaluated the AIC's request, we will postpone the game against Genoa, but this will be the last time."

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