The regular season in Serie B is actually over and relegation is only pending for the last team to be relegated. However, this has now been put on hold because the table could look very different.
There were tears in Genoa a week ago when Sampdoria faced relegation to Serie C for the first time after a 0-0 draw with Juve Stabia. Now things could turn out differently, as chaos has broken out in Serie B. On Sunday, the league officially announced that the relegation play-offs for the last relegated team had been suspended. Frosinone and Salernitana were supposed to play the first leg on Monday.
But now everything has been put on hold – and all because of Brescia Calcio. Brescia finished the season in 15th place, making it the first club above the ominous line. The problem: irregularities were found in the Rondinelle’s necessary payment records for employee and player salaries for the month of February 2025.
It concerns a dubious, repaid loan of 1.4 million euros in connection with the company of Brescia’s president Massimo Cellino. According to Gazzetta dello Sport, it also involves “non-existent tax credits.” What exactly the problem is cannot be clarified at present – the presumption of innocence applies.
Tax authorities create time pressure
The fact is: The audit commission (Covisoc) had already involved the relevant tax authorities at the end of February, but they took too long to respond. It was not until May 16 that the necessary documents were returned, which reportedly refer to “non-existent loans.” The following day, the relevant lawyers at the FIGC association were finally called in.
Now time is running out and Serie B has responded by suspending the relegation matches indefinitely, or until the matter has been “clarified” by the sports courts. According to the ANSA news agency, Brescia’s president Cellino considers his club innocent and “the victim of fraud.” Brescia will explain its position on Thursday, May 22. Until then, however, there will definitely be no relegation.
If Brescia is found guilty, it faces a four-point deduction, which would mean the club would slip to 18th place in the table and be the third team to be directly relegated alongside Cittadella and Cosenza. Frosinone, on the other hand, would be saved, while Sampdoria could still avert the historic humiliation of being relegated to Serie C for the first time ever in the relegation play-offs against Salerno. But that is still a long way off, as the lawyers are likely to have their say first.
