AC Chievo Verona were once the fairy-tale of Italian football — the only club to climb every division of the Italian pyramid to reach Serie A, which they achieved in 2001. On Sunday, the club from a small district of Verona take another step in their rebuilding story, competing in the Serie D play-offs final with a former Brazil international in their ranks.

From Serie A to bankruptcy — and back

The Flying Donkeys spent 17 of 18 seasons in the Italian top flight before finishing bottom of Serie A in 2019. Two years later, battered by financial difficulties and tax-related issues in the wake of the Covid pandemic, they were expelled from professional football and declared bankrupt.

The club's resurrection came through Sergio Pellissier, their all-time top scorer, who founded a new entity called Clivense in 2021. After winning promotion to Serie D, Pellissier's club acquired the historic Chievo Verona brand in May 2024. He now serves as honorary president and sporting director alongside president Pietro Laterza, who also owns Al-Ittifaq — a Dubai-based club competing in the UAE second division.

A star signing with an unexpected connection

It is through Al-Ittifaq that Chievo's most eye-catching addition arrived. Mario Balotelli, who plays for the club in Dubai, was relaxing on a beach in Brazil with his friend Douglas Costa when the conversation turned to football. Balotelli mentioned he was heading to Dubai; Costa mentioned he was close to signing for a South American club. The rest followed naturally.

Costa, 35, a former winger for Bayern Munich, Juventus, Grêmio, and Shakhtar Donetsk, joined Chievo in January on a six-month deal to stay fit after the foreign-player slot at Al-Ittifaq was already filled.