Serie A announced after a meeting Friday that the clubs "have agreed a deal that will allow bottom club Parma, beset by financial problems, to complete the season," according to Brian Homewood of REUTERS. Parma's players "have not been paid all season" and its last two Serie A matches have been postponed. Serie A President Maurizio Beretta: "The resolution was adopted confirming the willingness of the league to help Parma continue in the championship." He added that Italian Football Federation (FIGC) President Carlo Tavecchio would "travel to Parma to put the proposed plan to the players." Parma is due to face a bankruptcy hearing on March 19 and there was concern that if the club was "wound up their remaining matches would be awarded as 3-0 walkovers to their opponents, discrediting the championship." Beretta said that a fund of €5M ($5.4M) would be "created from money received from fines paid by the clubs" for crowd trouble and other breaches of Serie A regulations. He said, "If the club is passed over to a bankruptcy administrator on March 19, we shall intervene. We'll decide how exactly to intervene along with the administrator." Of the 20 Serie A clubs, 16 "voted in favour of the bailout, three abstained and Cesena voted against" (REUTERS, 3/6).
