Pirlo's former club Brescia out of Serie C after failing to secure licence
Andrea Pirlo's hometown club Brescia, which featured some of the greats of the game such as Roberto Baggio, Gheorghe Hagi and Pep Guardiola, have been thrown out of Serie C after their license was revoked for failing to meet legal and financial criteria.
The club was relegated to the third tier of Italian football after being docked eight points by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) in May for a series of financial violations.
The club's president Massimo Cellino, formerly in charge of English side Leeds United, and managing director Edoardo Cellino were handed six-month bans by an FIGC tribunal.
"At the conclusion of which the Commission found that the 'legal and economic-financial criteria' for obtaining the National License for the purpose of admission to the 2025-2026 Serie C Championship ... were not met," the FIGC said in a media release on Thursday.
Brescia was therefore not granted a licence for next season and would not be admitted to Serie C, it added.
The FIGC also said Brescia had failed to pay a 1.1 million euros ($1.30 million) debt to Serie B as of January 31 and also had unpaid debts to players and coaching staff. REUTERS
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