Advertisement

Football team kicked out of league after 20-0 'farce'

The Italian football team who were thrashed 20-0 on the weekend have been booted from their third-tier football league.

Pro Piacenza fielded just seven players in their Serie C loss to Cuneo on Sunday.

All of the team’s players that day were teenagers.

Before the fateful 20-0 loss, the club had forfeited three consecutive games, due to not having enough players.

The club is believed to be in serious financial trouble, and has not been able to pay any players for some months.

After the Italian Football Federation president labelled the result an “insult”, the league’s governing body, Lega Pro, commenced an investigation into the match.

Italian Serie A club Pro Piacanza has been booted from the league after suffering a 20-0 defeat. Picture: Twitter
Italian Serie A club Pro Piacanza has been booted from the league after suffering a 20-0 defeat. Picture: Twitter

They found that after an eighth player did not take to the field because they forgot their identity papers, the team’s physiotherapist came on as a substitute.

They ruled that some of their players were not registered and banned Pro Piacenza from the competition.

Lega Pro also fined the ailing club 20,000 Euros, and labelled the match “a farce” and “dangerous”, and that the club’s behaviour was “unacceptable”.

The Italian Football Federation said club affiliation had been revoked because of “serious regulatory violations that occurred at the Cuneo-Pro Piacenza match, in addition to the numerous other documented irregularities”.

Pro Piacenza are the second club to have been de-registered from Serie C this season.

Fellow battlers Matera exited the league last week, after enduring financial trouble of their own.

Cuneo, the team that issued the drubbing, more than doubled their goal tally for the season.

Before the match they had only scored 18 for the year, before piling on 20 in one game.

The result of the match was overruled, changed to a 3-0 result for Cuneo and a forfeit for Pro Piacenza.

One Cuneo helped himself to a double hat-trick in the one-sided affair.