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During the past season, the ownership of "Serie A" survival, secured through additional matches, unexpectedly changed hands to former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanzas, who officially acquired all the shares of the Italian club with his Spanish company "Inversiones Renfisa."
Parma had been looking for new owners for a year, as its main shareholder, the "Parmalat" conglomerate, had been involved in one of the biggest financial scandals in Italian history. The prestigious club remained in financial crisis and was gradually forced to sell its best players.
Until now, the main candidate to acquire the Italian club had been a Swiss company, but on Friday evening, a proposal, the details of which are not yet disclosed, was submitted by a company controlled by Sanzas, and he managed to quickly finalize the deal.
In the past decade, Sanzas had been the president of Real Madrid, and during his five-year tenure from 1995 to 2000, the royal team won the Champions League twice, the Spanish championship once, and the Intercontinental Cup. Later, the club's presidency was taken over by Florentino Perez, who then promised to buy Portuguese player Luis Figo upon his election victory.
"My goal is to bring Parma back to European competitions, where they impressively competed for 14 seasons and have won the European Super Cup, Cup Winners' Cup, and two UEFA Cups. Such a trophy cabinet can only be envied, and its worth can only be matched by the best international teams," said Sanzas.
Meanwhile, two other Italian clubs also have new owners, but for the fans of these teams, it is not good news - Torino and Perugia went bankrupt, lost their players, and from now on, a new team will have to compete in a division lower, namely in the Serie B and Serie C1 leagues, respectively.
