United Rugby Championship: the FIR put the Argentines’ Zebre up for sale

He Federal Council of the Italian Rugby Federationafter a meeting in Romehas decided to put up for sale Zebraseeking a new owner to take over the franchise starting in the 2025/26 season. All rugby, in Disney+.

Those interested will have time until January 15, 2025 to express their interest and will have to meet certain requirements that were established in an official document.

Some of them indicate that the transfer of the shares can only be carried out to an Italian club, that the sporting activity must be carried out in Italy and that the club must have a stadium with at least 5 thousand seats and two covered stands.

In addition, the training facilities must comply with URC/EPCR standards, there must be a minimum management commitment of six seasons and the owner must guarantee a minimum annual financial availability of 4,800,000 euros, which is equivalent to the current contribution of FIR.

For its part, United Rugby Championship has supported the measure of the FIR: “URC welcomes the invitation of the Italian Federation to invest more in the franchise held by Zebre Parma and the ambition to increase the competitiveness of the Italian teams”.

“URC will provide all its support during this process to both Zebre Parma and other stakeholders to ensure that the highest standards required by FIR for the franchise are in line with the league’s requirements. This is seen as a positive development for both the league as for Italian rugby”he added.

With this initiative, the FIR seeks for the franchise to adopt the economic independence model of Benettonthe historic club of Treviso that in 2010 left the local league to compete in the former Celtic League, beyond the interest that the union has on a structural and sporting level.

At the moment, Zebre Parma It has six Argentine players on its roster: Gonzalo García, Gerónimo Prisciantelli, Thomas Domínguez, Juan Pitinari, Guido Volpi and Bautista Stavile.