To paraphrase Bob Dylan, ‘the times they are a-changin’ in Brescia.

Less than a month after the FIGC – the Italian FA – formally revoked Brescia’s licence, the city finds itself home to two new clubs – Union Brescia and Calcio Brescia 1911.

The former will play at Brescia’s Stadio Mario Rigamonti when they make their Serie C debut against Arzignano Valchiampo on August 24, while Calcio Brescia 1911 are still waiting for the FIGC’s authorisation to compete in the Eccellenza, the fifth tier of Italian football.

Rather confusingly, both clubs claim to be the natural successor to Brescia Calcio 1911, which competed in Serie B last term under Massimo Cellino’s ownership.

Union Brescia have replaced its predecessor, retaining the Rondinelle‘s home, most of their playing staff and their traditional blue and white colours thanks to efforts of a consortium of local businessmen led by Giovanni Pasini.

The president of the Lombardy branch of Confindustria – the General Confederation of Italian Industry – Pasini is also the owner of Serie C club Feralpisalò, who are based in Salò, 20 miles west of Brescia on the shores of Lake Garda.

Pasini uprooted his club to rescue the Rondinelle, but for now at least Union Brescia are technically the successor to Feralpisalò, rather than to the club owned by Cellino.

According to Article 52 of the FIGC’s Internal Organisational Norms, if a club is excluded from Serie A, Serie B or Serie C, the Federal President, in agreement with the President of the National Amateur League (LND), can allow the city of the excluded club to participate with a new entity in an amateur league, even as an additional team.

In this scenario, Calcio Brescia 1911, which was set up by the city’s mayor, would likely receive the green light from the FIGC to compete in an amateur league – Eccellenza in this instance, potentially as an extra team. Union, on the other hand, will play in Serie C, but by inheriting the registration and sporting continuity of Feralpisalò.

And there are precedents too. In 1994, Catania had to restart from Eccellenza after falling foul of Serie C’s financial regulations the previous season and eventually won promotion back to Serie C2 at the first time of asking.

In the meantime, to ensure professional football remained in Catania in some capacity, Atletico Leonzio returned to Sicily’s second-biggest city as Atletico Catania, just a decade after it moved to Lentini, in the province of Siracusa.

The two clubs shared the Serie C1 for the next two seasons, before Atletico Catania were relegated in 2001 and eventually dropped out of professional football altogether a year later.

Across Sicily, Messina also briefly boasted two clubs in Serie D – the fourth tier of Italian football – in 2021 when ACR Messina, which represented the historical continuation of the Biancoscudati, pipped crosstown rivals FC Messina, who had acquired the brand of the last Messina side to play in Serie A 14 years earlier, to the title.

Similarly, the future of the two clubs in Brescia will depend on who acquires the brand and sporting history of Brescia Calcio 1911, which would allow either Union Brescia or Calcio Brescia 1911 to reappropriate their own history in the not-too-distant future.

Parma, Fiorentina, Napoli and Torino are just some of the Italian clubs to have walked down one of calcio‘s most trodden paths.

Significantly, while Cellino failed to register Brescia Calcio 1911 for the upcoming Serie C season, the company to which the club belongs has not declared bankruptcy, complicating matters even further.

Brescia finished 15th in the table but were relegated to Serie C after a points deduction having been found guilty of financial irregularities by the Federal National Tribunal of the FIGC.

Covisoc – Italian football’s supervisory body – began an investigation following the conclusion of the Serie B season over an irregularity in their payment of salaries and tax contributions in February and April.

As a result of the probe, Brescia were hit with an eight-point penalty, four deducted from this season’s tally and four next term.

The points deduction meant Frosinone were now safe, while Salernitana and Sampdoria met in the relegation play-out, with the Blucerchiati eventually securing survival a month after being initially relegated.

Cellino, who was handed a six-month ban along with his son and board member Edoardo, claimed foul play.

“I was defrauded,” the former Leeds United owner told La Gazzetta dello Sport after the verdict was delivered. “They defrauded me, Covisoc, and the tax authorities. They defrauded everyone; we are all victims, and I am devastatingly sorry. 

“I would have preferred to die under a car than suffer something like this.”

Still smarting from the verdict, Cellino then declined to pay around €3m (£2.5m) to register the club ahead of the 2025-26 season.

The figure included a month’s salaries, a month’s worth of social security contributions, and two months of income tax totalling almost €2.5m. 

Additionally, he would have had to pay approximately €400,000 as the first instalment of the payment plan – agreed upon but not yet signed – for €2.4m in arrears with Italy’s tax authorities.

But as the payment deadline came and went, it soon became apparent Cellino had no intention of meeting it.

In a lengthy statement earlier this month, the FIGC indicated Brescia had unpaid debts to the league, as well as their players and coaching staff. It also noted Cellino “failed to satisfy all the conditions and prerequisites for being granted the licence” to enrol the club in Serie C.

Brescia effectively ceased to exist, with the city council having to summon a locksmith to prise open the gates of the Rigamonti after Cellino refused to hand back the keys following the club’s collapse.

A new era for football in Brescia will kick off on August 24, but the future remains shrouded in uncertainty for now.