Buffon, Thuram, Crespo, Veron, Cannavaro. If you stuck them in a team now they'd probably still hold their own in Serie A. For many of us growing up in the nineties, Parma were the team that we looked towards for a bit of European panache.
Watching James Richardson sit in picturesque Italian cafés flicking through pink newspapers was glorious and a lot of that had to do with Parma. We didn't really know where they came from but they were new and we loved it.
Now they're going to be playing in the forth tier of Italian football. Demotion to Italy's top non-professional league became a reality today when Parma's bankruptcy was confirmed. A new buyer for the 1999 UEFA Cup winners could not be found and Parma will join 161 other teams in the regionalised Serie D.
A statement on the club's website read;
The administrators of Parma FC, Dr Angelo Anedda and Dr Alberto Guion, communicated that as of 14.00 today, June 22 2015, no offers have been received for the sporting rights of the club.
In the coming hours the administrators will meet with the creditor’s committee and the bankruptcy judge Dr Pietro Rogato to make the necessary arrangements for the bankruptcy proceedings.
A sad day for Parma fans and for football in general.
