Starting from the bottom

'New' Fiorentina begins life in Italy's Serie C2

ROME (AP) -- The new Fiorentina soccer team, born from the ashes of the financially devastated old Florence team, will have to work its way back up the Italian league from the Serie C2 fourth division, the soccer federation announced Wednesday.

The new team had been hoping to get a berth in Serie C1, but Italian Soccer Federation President Franco Carraro announced Wednesday that it would have to start in the lowly division this autumn.

The old Fiorentina team was in the top-flight Serie A last year, although it had been relegated to Serie B by the end of the season. However, during the summer break the soccer federation ruled that the team would be excluded from the league altogether because of its failure to resolve financial problems.

Florence was briefly left without a club, until local officials jumped in to form the newly named Fiorentina 1926 Florentia, and a shoe-company entrepreneur took control of the team by offering a multimillion euro (dollar) infusion.

Former club owner and film producer Vittorio Cecchi Gori had his team bumped from the league for failing to meet a deadline for paying about 22 million euros (US$22 million) and avoid possible bankruptcy.

Footwear magnate and new owner Diego Della Valle, who owns the Tod's brand, said he was disappointed to see the team drop to a lower league.

"We did everything we could for Fiorentina to stay in C1. Knowing that's not going to happen fills us with sorrow and displeasure," Della Valle told Florence's mayor, the ANSA news agency said.

Fiorentina, a two-title Italian league champion, was founded in 1926. It would take three years and consecutive of promotions for it to be able to rejoin Serie A.

Hero's welcome for Rivaldo in Milan

MILAN, Italy (AP) -- Newly signed Brazilian forward Rivaldo was given a hero's welcome Wednesday by dozens of AC Milan fans as the World Cup sensation promised to end a streak of dismal seasons for the one-time soccer powerhouse.

AC Milan, which is owned by Italian premier and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, dominated the league in the late-80s and early '90s, but has had a comparatively dry spell recently. In 1999, it did win the league, but has been without an international trophy since 1995.

"With the help of the teammates, I hope to win AC Milan the league title and the Champions Cup on my first season in Italy," Rivaldo told reporters at a special media presentation" in a luxury downtown hotel.

AC Milan fans, who gathered in front of Hotel Gallia, went wild when Rivaldo appeared at a hotel balcony, waving the red-and-black jersey of the Milan team. AC Milan managing director Adriano Galliani said having Rivaldo on the squad was a long-held dream.

"We are glad to have signed one of the greatest, if not the greatest, player in the world," said Galliani.

He did not give details of Rivaldo's contract, but reports said the 30-year-old Brazilian forward, who helped Brazil win its fifth World Cup title this summer, would get 4.5 million euros (about US$4.5 million) a year for three years, in addition to commercial contracts estimated at 1 million euros (dlrs) a year.

Rivaldo said he decided to part with Barcelona after four seasons with the Spanish club "because I was no longer happy with the team."

"I'm aware the Italian league is one of the toughest in the world, but I'm confident to keep the scoring average I had in Spain," he said. That average was 17 goals per season.

Rivaldo said he will wear No. 11 with AC Milan, as his preferred No. 10 already belongs to Portuguese midfielder Manuel Rui Costa.

At AC Milan, he will team with fellow Brazilians Serginho, Dida and Roque Junior; and with Ukrainian international Andriy Shevchenko; Filippo Inzaghi and Paolo Maldini of the Italian team; and Rui Costa of Portugal.

Rivaldo will begin practicing with his new team at the training camp of Milanello on Thursday, possibly playing a portion of a Champions League qualifying match against Czech squad Slovan Liberec on Aug. 14 and the preseason "Berlusconi trophy" against Juventus on Aug. 18.

Before the start of the Italian Serie A campaign at the beginning of next month, Rivaldo will travel home to play an exhibition with the Brazil against Paraguay, in Fortaleza on Aug. 21.

"It will be a celebration, a feast more than a match," he said.

At Fortaleza, he will be teaming up with Ronaldo, who plays with AC Milan's crosstown rival Inter.

Rivaldo refused to comment on reports that Ronaldo wants to leave Inter and join Real Madrid. "I'm here to talk of AC Milan," he said.

Later Wednesday, Ronaldo's agent Alexandre Martins announced that Ronaldo will stay with Inter through the end of his contract in 2006.

About the coming Serie A season Rivaldo believed that AS Roma, the 2001 champion, will be AC Milan's toughest rival for the league title.

"Of course also Juventus and Inter are strong teams and will be in the running," he said.

Galliani said medical examinations completed in the two previous days showed that Rivaldo "is in a very good physical condition," thus indirectly denying rumors that Rivaldo may have knee problems.

Perugia agrees to sell Ahn by end of August

PERUGIA, Italy (AP) -- In an attempt to end its feud with South Korean player Ahn Jung-kwan, his Italian club Perugia said Wednesday it had agreed to sell the forward to a team of his liking by the end of August.

Perugia said that if a deal were not reached by the Aug. 31 deadline, the case would be handed to FIFA arbitrators. Ahn became a Korean hero after scoring the "golden goal" that eliminated Italy from the World Cup, but controversy ensued when Perugia club president Luciano Gaucci criticized Ahn afterward.

Ahn has been refusing to rejoin Perugia and recently expressed opposition to his possible transfer from Perugia to the English club Fulham.

Club spokesman Paolo Maetelli said Perugia officials and representatives of Ahn and his former Korean league club Busan worked out the tentative agreement during a meeting in Perugia this week.

"The final agreement has not been reached yet, but the parties involved decided that Ahn's possible transfer by the end of August must be agreed by the player and the club Busan," the club said in a statement. "The principle that Perugia is the sole owner of the player has been also accepted."

Perugia got full ownership of the player this year paying Busan US$1.6 million. Ahn joined Perugia on a co-ownership basis last year but spent most of the Serie A season on the bench.

His contract with Perugia runs through 2005, the Italian club said.

Ahn has been quoted as saying he did not want to rejoin Perugia after the club president's criticism.

Ahn's decisive goal came in a second-round World Cup match marked by questionable refereeing decisions that enraged Italian fans, who felt their team had been robbed. After the match, Gaucci was quoted as threatening to dismiss Ahn for having scored -- remarks that he has since said related not to the goal but to the Korean player's allegedly offensive pre-match comments about Italian soccer.

 

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