FOGGIA – Foggia football at the crossroads. As the gong for registration for the next Serie C championship approaches (the deadline is June 4th), the Rossoneri club is suspended between the hypothesis of the arrival of a new owner at the top of the club (at the moment the least likely possibility accredited) and the possibility that the Daunian association remains in the hands of the Bari entrepreneur Nicola Canonico, who twenty days ago had expressed in a press release his desire to conclude his Foggia experience, sell his shares free of charge and in any case not register the team for the Lega Pro 2024/25.
Having rejected the first proposals formulated by a couple of consortiums (one local and one not from Foggia), there would still be discussions with the group of entrepreneurs referring to Annino De Finis and Antonio Salandra, to try to reach an agreement, even if until a few days ago the parties were very distant. The municipal administration is also on the pitch in this match, with the role of mediator. The city is on tenterhooks and awaits clear weather. Fans with bated breath, worried about the fate of their favorite team. The Curva Nord has put up a banner outside the stadium, along Viale Ofanto, asking for clarity from the mayor Maria Aida Episcopo. «We understand that the fans want to have news, to know how things are – says the municipal councilor for Sport, Domenico Di Molfetta -. But at this moment, when the parties are still discussing the possibility of reaching an agreement and we are at the photo finish, the less said the better. 48 more hours of patience. By tomorrow we will have to close the circle, take stock and then explain to the city and the fans the outcome of the discussions, whether the negotiation is successful or whether it definitively stalls. Monday either in or out.”
Foggia is waiting to know what will become of its football team, after having come close to reaching Serie B a year ago and failing to qualify for the promotion playoffs this year. «The Municipality has played and is playing the role of mediator in this matter – adds councilor Di Molfetta – with the primary and priority objective that the club does not go bankrupt. The city must maintain Serie C. We have never taken into consideration the possibility of restarting from the amateurs, first of all because we need to understand whether or not we would be granted registration in Serie D after we were already allowed in 2012 and in 2019, and then because in any case it is very complicated to return to professional football by winning the Serie D championship. However, we are confident, however the negotiations end, that the objective of starting again from Serie C can be achieved. I don’t think it is convenient for Canonico to let the club fail. The Municipality is not rooting for any of the parties involved, it aims to maintain Serie C and that the club, whether it remains Canonico or comes under new ownership, implements a project for the relaunch of the Rossoneri club.”
