Zebre will play in the Pro12 next season as they are to be taken over by the Italian Rugby Federation.

On Monday, it looked as if Zebre would not be competing in the Pro12 in the 2017/18 season after they announced they intended to leave the competition due to financial constraints.

However, on the same day they claimed they were to leave, Zebre then announced that they would be competing in the Pro12 or Pro14 in September.

The Italian club, who have still not won a European Cup match, announced they would keep their name and would go under the ownership of the Italian Rugby Federation.

Zebre Rugby will retain their name and will play the @PRO12rugby in Parma. The club got back under the Union ownership with a new management

— Zebre Parma 🦓 (@ZebreParma) July 24, 2017

A new company is set to be put in place replacing Zebre Rugby Club company as long as it’s approved by the Federal Council.

In a statement released by the Federation, they made it clear that there would be two Italian teams competing in the competition and explained when and how they are going to restructure the club. Here is the statement released by the federation.

“FIR leaders will meet on Monday 24 July in Parma – together with the new directors – members of staff and players of the franchise to start the operating processes of ‘Zebre Rugby Club’.”

These types of issues are far from ideal for any club going into a new season, but it makes it even worse that Zebre are already a club who are struggling and have been since their formation.