(ANSA) - The courtroom is to replace the soccer pitch as Serie A's main battlefield for two weeks, as three clubs launch legal battles to save their top-flight status.
Messina and Torino are looking to the law courts to overturn the Italian Soccer Federation's (FIGC) decision to relegate them because of financial problems.
Genoa, on the other hand, is taking its appeal against its relegation to the third division for match-fixing to the Federation's internal court of appeal.
FIGC's decision to dump the sides has caused a string of protests in the three cities. Genoa fans blocked roads in the port last week, while Messina supporters stopped ferries connecting Sicily to the
Italian mainland and occupied railway stations. The legal wrangling kicks off Tuesday when Messina and Torino - both rejected for not having paid tax bills - take their cases to the Lazio Regional Administrative Court (TAR).
Messina, which finished seventh in the top-flight last season, appears to have a slightly better chance of winning its appeal. The Sicilian outfit will argue it had reached an agreement with the inland revenue over payment of outstanding taxes and is only guilty of presenting the documentation to
FIGC a little late. Whatever the Lazio TAR rules, the dispute looks certain to run until next week, as the losing party - whether it be FIGC or the clubs - is likely to appeal to the Council of State, which has the final word.
Genoa - which, like Torino, won promotion from Serie B to the first division last season - is set to present its case to keep its Serie A status to FIGC's appeal court Thursday. Last week the FIGC disciplinary board found Genoa guilty of bribing Venezia to throw its final match of the season.
The 3-2 victory allowed Genoa to return to Serie A after a 10-year absence. Venezia was already relegated to Serie C and has since gone bankrupt. Soccer officials opened a probe into the match after
police found 250,000 euros in the car of a Venezia executive. The two clubs claimed it was a transfer fee but Italian police have wiretaps they say contain incriminating conversations.
The disciplinary board send Genoa down to Serie C1 and saddled it with a 3-point handicap. It also slapped a five-year ban from soccer on Genoa Chairman Enrico Preziosi, Venezia Managing Director Franco Dal Cin and Venezia General Manager Giuseppe Pagliara. Two Venezia players were given short bans.
Genoa is Italy's oldest soccer club. It was founded by British railway workers as the Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club in 1893, won its first title in 1898 and claimed eight more by 1924.
Torino also has an illustrious history. It has won seven championships, the last one in 1976.
If Messina, Torino and Genoa's appeals are unsuccessful Bologna - which was relegated from Serie A last season - Treviso and Ascoli should take their places. On Tuesday the Lazio TAR will also hear Perugia and Salernitana's appeals against their relegations from Serie B, again for financial woes, and Napoli's case against six second division sides - Arezzo, Ascoli, Brescia, Pescara, Piacenza and Vicenza.
Napoli was relegated to Serie C1 after going bankrupt last summer and narrowly failed to win promotion. It claims the six clubs in question have not paid their INAIL national insurance contributions.
The two-time champ wants the courts to knock at least one of them down a division, so it can take its place, and achieve in the courts what it could not pull off on the field.
