Fiorentina go bust with debts of £45 million

Fiorentina have gone into bankruptcy proceedings with debts of £45 million.

Just over a year since the Florence club sold star striker Gabriel Batistuta to AS Roma for £22 million and despite denials earlier in the day, Fiorentina are facing bankruptcy after the head of Florence's bankruptcy tribunal started a file on the basis of a document detailing the club's financial crisis which was drawn up in a board meeting yesterday.

"I have ordered that the document be filed as a bankruptcy procedure," ANSA news agency quoted Tribunal official Raffaele Damora as saying tonight.

Fiorentina president Vittorio Cecchi Gori has been looking to sell the club for most of this year with Benetton the latest company linked to a bid.

Vittorio took over the Florence club from his father Mario in 1993 and is going through a costly divorce. Rita Ruzic-Cecchi Gori is seeking half his estimated £1.4 billion fortune in the Italian courts.

All the club's top stars are now for sale with urgent moves to sell off Rui Costa, Enrico Chiesa and Francesco Toldo which could clear the club's debts but leave fans distraught.

Fiorentina are one of the so-called 'seven sisters' of the Italian game - the seven biggest clubs who dominate the domestic football scene - and they won the Coppa Italia just two weeks ago. The fact that one of the biggest clubs is facing immediate ruin is likely to have long term effects in the Italian game.