Norwich City caught up in dispute with Italian club who claim they didn’t lose 13-0 to Canaries

Russell Martin of Norwich City scores during the Pre Season Friendly match at Piergiorgio Perucca Stadium, Aosta Picture by Stefano Gnech/Focus Images Ltd +39 333 1641678 20/07/2014 ©Focus Images Limited www.focus-images.co.uk +447814 482222

Norwich City Football Club has been caught up in a pre-season row with an Italian football club about the identity of the side the Canaries beat 13-0 in a friendly on Sunday.

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City had originally been due to play Italian third tier side Novara, a professional side playing in Serie C, in a friendly at their pre-season base at the Piergiorgio Perucca Stadium in the Aosta region of northern Italy.

However that match was cancelled on Sunday and the Canaries hastily organised some new opposition, which they believed to be Italian Serie D side Saint-Christophe Vallée d’Aoste, posting an update at www.canaries.co.uk

Serie D is Italy’s highest non-professional football level and is split into nine regional divisions, so when City thumped their opponents 13-0, it was not much of a surprise.

But SC Vallée d’Aoste have since asked for the Canaries to make an official apology and correction, claiming that the players Neil Adams’ team played were a selection of non-professionals from the region of Valle d’Aoste.

The Italian club posted on their website, www.vda-saintchristophe.it, saying: “The company denies the news, reported on some sites and news football, having played a friendly match against Norwich, on retreat in Saint-Vincent, Sunday, July 20.”

Norwich City have this afternoon added a correction to the match report on their official website, saying: “In our original match report for this warm-up fixture, acting in good faith on the basis of information given to the Club, we incorrectly reported that we had played against local club side SC Vallee d’Aoste.

“In fact the game was against an Aosta regional select side and we are happy to put the record straight and apologise to SC Vallee d’Aoste and their fans for the misunderstanding.

“The game was convened at very short notice following the late cancellation of our previously scheduled match against Novara.

“The hospitality shown to Norwich City Football Club by the people in Saint-Vincent and the surrounding area has been excellent and our training camp there has seen the squad continue to build their fitness levels, as we gear up for our three forthcoming friendlies against top-flight European opposition in the shape of SC Bastia, OGC Nice and Celta Vigo.”

The Canaries are due to travel across the border to France tomorrow night, to the neutral venue of the Stade d’Honneur in Sallanches, to face Ligue Un side SC Bastia.