Football Season Guide

Failed in the season 2014-2015 and cancelled from all the championships, it did not take long for Parma to start all over again with a new Chinese ownership and to be readmitted to the 4th tier of the Italian football. Since then, they obtained 3 promotions in a row and they returned to the Serie A. It has to be said that this cavalcade was not completely well-deserved as some dubious refereeing helped them out in key moments along the way. Having achieved straight promotion to the Serie A thanks to a second place finish in the past Serie B, Parma confirmed their coach Roberto D’Aversa at the helm of the team. He has been in charge since December 2016 and he achieved two promotions with them, starting from the Lega Pro. A former midfielder, D’Aversa played some Serie A football with Siena and Messina but he only managed Virtus Lanciano in Serie B before Parma. And this could represent a big problem due to his lack of experience at the top level. Moreover, Parma are working with a rather limited budget and, for such reason, they had to strengthen their squad mostly relying on loans from the bigger clubs or free agents. So, they managed to retain players like Jacopo Dezi, the promising Amato Ciricetti and a seasoned goalie as Luigi Sepe from Napoli. Jonathan Biabiany and Federico Dimarco should arrive from Inter while Massimo Gobbi, Bruno Alves and Luca Rigoni, all over 33, signed for free. At the moment, the squad seems too thin and too fragile in all departments. For such reason several new signings are expected to be made soon. Among them, Mario Balotelli represents a bit of a dream. Thus, things might not be too easy for Parma in occasion of their return to the football that matters. On top of that, they will start the season with a 5-point deduction due to some alleged match-fixing attempt made by Emanuele Calaiò, their key striker in the past campaigns.