The legal battle over whether Serie B has 19 or 22 teams this season is back on after Pro Vercelli won an appeal to suspend the ruling.
It had seemingly been resolved once and for all when the CONI (Italian Olympic Committee) judging panel declared that the appeal from Pro Vercelli, Catania, Siena and Ternana was inadmissible.
However, this evening Pro Vercelli got the all-clear from the TAR tribunal in the Lazio region to suspend the CONI ruling.
The legal battle over whether Serie B has 19 or 22 teams this season is back on after Pro Vercelli won an appeal to suspend the ruling.
It had seemingly been resolved once and for all when the CONI (Italian Olympic Committee) judging panel declared that the appeal from Pro Vercelli, Catania, Siena and Ternana was inadmissible.
However, this evening Pro Vercelli got the all-clear from the TAR tribunal in the Lazio region to suspend the CONI ruling.
The decision will now go to the definitive TAR ruling on October 9, so if the appeal is accepted in full, then Serie B could be forced to expand to 22 teams rather than 19.
It would be a bizarre twist, as the season is already into the fourth round this weekend.
This also means the start of the Serie C/Lega Pro campaign is delayed yet again, because these are clubs that don’t know which division they are meant to be playing in.
Serie B had 22 clubs, but when Bari, Avellino and Cesena went bankrupt, the Lega Serie B opted to leave it at 19 rather than promote another three to replace them.
This is what prompted the legal battle from Pro Vercelli, Catania, Siena, Novara and Ternana, who were all hoping to get promoted to Serie B in their place.