Cagliari president Massimo Cellino was banned from football for four months by the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) yesterday for allowing the sale of tickets for a match that was supposed to be played behind closed doors.

Cellino was banned for a further two months for violating regulations regarding the payment of players’ agents.

The Serie A club were fined €10,000 over the ticket sales and €15,000 over the payments.

Cagliari had been ordered to play their September match against Roma without spectators after their Is Arenas stadium was ruled unsafe.

However, the club defied the ruling, inviting fans via their website to attend the match. Cagliari’s municipal government called off the match and soccer authorities awarded Roma a 3-0 walkover.

Cagliari moved to the small stadium, five kilometres outside the Sardinian capital, this season after abandoning the dilapidated Stadio Sant’Elia due to disagreements with the local authorities and safety worries.

Since the move, the club’s woes have continued with rows between the club, local authorities and Serie A over the ground, which has only one permanent stand.

Cellino was arrested and charged with embezzlement and false representation over the rebuilding of the stadium along with the local mayor, and the club have been playing their “home” matches some 1,000 kilometres away in Trieste, on the Italian mainland.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.