Catania Calcio are no more, as the club has been excluded from the current Serie C season and declared bankrupt. ‘It’s a situation I wished I never had to deal with.’
While Catania had been a Serie A club not so long ago, with Diego Simeone as their coach and players like Papu Gomez leading the way, but they fell on hard times.
In recent years they dropped down to Serie C, the third tier of Italian football, and takeover proposals failed to resolve the crisis.
With the season in full swing, Catania have been excluded from the 2021-22 Serie C league with immediate effect.
This changes the table, because all their results will be wiped from the board, acting as if they had never participated.
“With great pain, I must confirm the club has been declared bankrupt and cannot continue in Serie C. This is a situation that I, as President of the League, wished I never had to deal with,” said Lega Serie C chief Francesco Ghirelli.
“In this final phase, some entirely senseless proposals were put forward, leading to the most unpleasant of conclusions.”
Catania were in Serie A from 2006 to 2014, then demoted to Serie C in 2015 following bankruptcy.