PARMA, Italy (AP) - Parma president Tommaso Ghirardi is resigning and putting the club up for sale after being denied a spot in the Europa League for an underpaid tax bill.
Ghirardi says “you football people should be ashamed with yourselves. They have taken away a deserved success that was earned on the pitch.”
On Thursday, Parma lost its appeal against a decision not to grant it a UEFA license for next season and Torino took its place in the Europa League.
Parma was denied the license for underpaying a tax bill by 300,000 euros ($408,000).
Ghirardi says “only someone stupid could think I wanted to save 300,000 euros - or 0.6 percent of what was owed.”
Ghirardi bought Parma in 2007 and rescued it from the financial scandal involving parent company Parmalat.
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