And the worst European soccer story of them all might be OFF THE PITCH...

Just a moment ago, I posted a story on at least five incidents marring Champions League and Europa League matches in the last week (maybe two).

But that might not be the worst story in European soccer right now, as bad as all that is!

That may, once again, go to Italian soccer, and, specifically, Parma Football Club.

To say Parma is in trouble is an understatement.  They will almost certainly be expelled by the Italian officials from the top tier of Serie A at the end of the year for financial malfeasance.

That is, if this Parma club even MAKES IT to the end of the year.  The more likely result is that Parma will have to fold, put a new team forward, and start at the bottom -- not unlike Rangers of Scotland, in a move I am shocked did not kill Scottish soccer once and for all!

Parma has had to suspend it's upcoming match in Serie A and it's previous match because it, quite literally, has no money to keep the lights on.

In fact, the team has been sold twice this year, has not paid any of it's employees at all this season, and there is little idea as to the actual identity of who owns the team at all.

Let me try to unravel at least SOME OF THIS through an ESPNFC report on the subject...

• The team's assets are already scheduled for liquidation by Italian tax officials next week.
• A bankruptcy hearing on the team is scheduled for later in March.
• The latest home match could not be played because the team could not provide lighting nor security for the game.  It had literally zero money for either.
• The team offices and official shop have been shut down.

How bad is it, and how did we get here?

• June 30, 2014:  The team's last filings indicate the debt on the team is now 197 million euros, a nearly twelve-fold increase from seven years ago, when the team started received 220 million euros from the Serie A television contracts.
• 2004:  Parma is declared insolvent as part of the bankruptcy of food giant Parmalat, the latter 14 BILLION euros in the hole.
• The team was basically trying a similar strategy to the Oakland A's of Major League Baseball -- find talented players, buy them cheap, sell them at a price.
• Mid-2014:  The Italian officials deny Parma a berth in the Europa League for failing to pay a 300,000 euro tax bill.  Yet, the team is allowed to play in 2014 Serie A.
• December 2014:  Parma is sold by Tommaso Ghiardi, but no one knows to whom or for what sum.
• February 6, 2015:  Parma is sold AGAIN to Giampietro Manenti, and the claim is that the debt is only 73.5 million euros.  The ESPN report claims the sale price was...  one euro.
• Manenti is believed to have capital totalling only 7500 euros at this juncture.

The officials, at this point, would like to see out the season, and reset the team in second-tier Serie B.

That's laughable.  The team is DEAD, mismanaged into the ground in one of the corrupt leagues in Europe.  Kill it, and allow solvent individuals to use the years in lower tiers to build up the capital and goodwill necessary to rebuild Parma.