Fiorentina in Serie B (1 Viewer)

[Espectro]

Official: Fiorentina in Serie B Wednesday 20 August, 2003

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The 2003-04 season in Serie B will be extended to 24 teams with Catania, Genoa, Salernitana and Fiorentina pulled back from Serie C1.


The news was confirmed late this evening following a five-hour FIGC meeting to discuss the increasingly chaotic mixture of legal challenges from second division sides.


The new-look Serie B will be extended from 20 to 24 teams and will be based on the English Division One – with play-offs for promotion and relegation.


In order to fit the extra games into the packed schedule, midweek fixtures will be included when the calendars are redrawn on Friday.


Catania sparked the debate by taking legal action after an ineligible player was fielded in the 1-1 draw with Siena back in April.


To ensure no more legal challenges would be brought against the Federation, the Government this week ruled that all four relegated sides would be given another chance at Serie B football.


This caused further problems, as one of the teams who dropped down in May – Cosenza – do not have the financial stability to register for the new season.


A series of sides maintained they had the right to step up in Cosenza’s place, with Pisa and Martina leading the pack, but Fiorentina were given the nod.


“Fiorentina are promoted as a reward for sporting merit,” revealed FIGC Vice-President Giancarlo Abete,


Fiorentina were up until recently known as Florentia Viola, as the club was founded after the bankruptcy of AC Fiorentina.


The side was entirely separate from Vittorio Cecchi-Gori’s outfit and earned promotion from Serie C2 last season.


There are some familiar faces, such as ex-Lecce Coach Alberto Cavasin and captain Angelo Di Livio (pictured).

This was not a popular decision, and League President Adriano Galliani was furious.

"The FIGC took this step to increase the division to 24 teams, but we will not rewrite the calendars," he snapped. "It is no longer up to the League."

Meanwhile, Roma and Napoli have been cleared of fraud charges following the scandal over false guarantee papers.


The investigation has ruled that the clubs were the victims of fraud and not intentionally providing false paperwork to prove their financial status.


Nonetheless, Atalanta continue to maintain “the situation is irregular” and that they should be promoted back into Serie A.

 

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[Signor]

That's good , I am happy for them

 

[K10]

This is great news. Fiorentina deserves it but in all honestly, this move is really unfair to alot of other Serie B and C clubs.

 

[Tom]

although sentiment dictates that i be happy, this is incredibly unfair IMO. Why should Fiorentina be promoted ahead of more deserving teams?

 

[Ferrari^M]

Yeap, the Seria C1 team with the most points that didn't promote should be going to serie B not fiorentina.

 

[danielão]

Fiorentina should be in maybe C2 right now, if they gained promotion from Serie D the season before. They were only put in C2 last year because of their name/history, and are only in Serie B now because of their name/history.

Serie B is a complete farce this season.

 

[Martin]

I believe Fiorentina were promoted ahead of many other clubs largely due to the pressure of playing in Serie B. These clubs don't have the squads nor financial backing to compete in Serie B, they'd rather stay in C1.

 

[Slagathor]

Really? Wow, I thought we only had that in this country...

 

[Zizou]

I think it's quite fair. Catania did not deserve to go in Serie C1 in the first place, as the player there was some unclear rules which they supposedly broke. For those that don't know, Catania had a player suspended for the next match, so they did not play him and instead sent him with the reserves to play with them. They thought that it was right to do so, and in the following match they fielded him as he had missed the match he was suspended for. They won the game, but the team they played against (was it Venezia? or Siena? Can't remember) found out that that player played in the reserves team the previous weekend, which meant he was still suspended. So the Lega over ruled the result 2-0 against Catania, and with 3 points less, they were relegated.

 

[Espectro]

Serie B Clubs Set To Boycott League And Cup Games

08/22/2003. Nineteen of the 20 Serie B clubs on Friday voted to boycott Coppa Italia matches as well as the first three rounds of the league season in protest at the addition of four teams to the second division.

The Italian soccer federation this week voted to expand Serie B in the hope that it would end a relegation battle that has gone on in the courts all summer.

"It was decided not to take part in the Italian Cup matches on Sunday and not to take the field for either the first, or the second or the third weeks of the league season," said Cagliari president Massimo Cellino.

FIGC chief Franco Carraro says the clubs now risk punishment if they go ahead with the protest.

Catania begun the debate when taking legal action after Siena fielded an ineligible player in the 1-1 draw between the two sides in April.

To ensure that no legal action would be taken against the federation, the Government had ruled that all four relegated teams would be given another chance in Serie B.

 

[Hydde]

I read that article in espn too.

Its very dangerous, all the clubs are going to not play in the serie B.

and this will be a catastrophe for calccio.


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