Basketball, Trapani excluded from the Serie A championship: the decision of the Fip Sports Judge

Trapani was excluded from the Serie A basketball championship. The decision comes from the Sports Judge based on the report of the deputy federal prosecutor after the last matchday against Trento which lasted only four minutes. Trapani had already been penalized by 10 points: in the last few games they were left with only three senior players and the youth players sent into the fray, embarrassing Italian basketball.

THE CONSEQUENCES

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After the decision, the members are free. A long-term effect, with the drop in the number of teams in the top division from 16 to 15, is one less relegation from A1 to A2, and a repechage already assured at the end of the season in A2 (which, barring waivers, is the best among the relegated teams in Serie B). The short-term effect is instead the cancellation of the results of the matches played by Trapani, and therefore the loss of points in the standings for those who beat the Sicilians. This changes the ranking at the end of the first round, valid to determine the eight qualifiers for the Italian Cup in February in Turin: Virtus Bologna, Brescia 24; Olimpia Milan*, Venice 20, Tortona 18; Trieste 14; Udine, Naples*, Cremona, Trento 12; Varese, Sassari 10; Reggio Emilia 8; Treviso, Cantù 6 (*= Milan and Naples one game less). This leaves Trento out of the Final Eight, while the last two qualifiers are Udine and Napoli, in order to be established based on the result of today’s postponement of Napoli-Milan (6.45pm). With the exclusion from the championship comes the fine of 600 thousand euros as per regulation.

THE IRREGULARITIES

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The origin of the sanctions lies in the payment of Irpef and INPS for the two-month period January-February 2025 for which the club said it was defrauded by the company – the same as Brescia Calcio – to which it had turned to do so through the compensation of credits, which then did not occur. This led to the initial sanction of 4 penalty points to be served for this sporting season. A fifth point was added at the end of November with the accusation of failure to comply with the planned payments to remedy the position with the Revenue Agency: Trapani claims to have remedied its position through an active repentance and that the resulting debt with the Treasury is not for the Irpef and INPS required by the regulations but for the VAT accrued precisely by paying IRPEF and INPS.

THE NEW SANCTIONS

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The Federation has always responded that it bases its measures exclusively on the basis of the documentation received from the Revenue Agency through the new independent Commission for verifying the economic and financial balance of professional sports clubs, without going into the merits of the tax position itself of the club, which has opened appeals to have its reasons recognized by the tax authorities. On 30 December, the president Antonini was banned for two years and another three penalty points for false declarations on the fulfillment of payments to the Treasury and finally on 7 January, another two years of inhibition for Antonini and another two points for false declarations on the payment of outstanding debts with which the club had declared itself in compliance at the time of registration for the championship.

THE WEIGHT OF SANCTIONS

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The blocking of memberships imposed in Trapani as a result of some payment orders from members before penalties led first of all to the failure to formally replace the resigning coach Jasmin Repesa, given the impossibility of updating the contract of the second assistant Alex Latini, promoted in his place, as required by the regulations, thus leading to having to include the captain (usually Petrucelli) as player-coach. The block on registrations also led to the impossibility of replacing the players who left, some because they had contractual exits and others following a transfer (on Saturday against Trento the total number of departures had reached five: Alibegovic, Allen, Ford, Hurt, Eboua). But in addition to the technical aspect, no longer having the 12 mandatory professional contracts required by the regulation generated fines of 50 thousand euros per match for each player below that threshold.

RENOUNCEMENT AND FARCE

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With limited staff and to avoid incurring a fine which that day would have been 100 thousand euros, Trapani renounced the trip to the Virtus Bologna field on 4 January, sanctioned with a 20-0 defeat and a 50 thousand euro fine. Two days later she did not give up on the Champions League trip to Hapoel Holon, which would have cost her 600 thousand euros in fine, but she showed up with only five players, including two youth players: the seniors left early complaining of injuries, the match lasted seven minutes until when only one player remained it was declared lost, with elimination from the cup. Similar scene a few days later but at home in the championship against Trento, given that the second withdrawal would have automatically triggered exclusion from the championship: seven men on the scoresheet, four of which were youth players, the three seniors soon left the scene and the match lasted four minutes before being declared lost when only one player remained. Next Saturday against Trieste it risked happening again, but the Sporting Judge’s ruling arrived first.