Italian Soccer Scandal

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Four Serie A giants up on trial

ROME, June 22 (Reuters) - Italy's football prosecutor has ordered Serie A clubs Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina to stand trial in the nation's biggest sports scandal in a quarter of a century.


The teams, among the elite of Italian football, could be thrown out of the top league if found guilty in a match-fixing sports trial starting next week in Rome's Olympic Stadium.

In a brief statement, the Football Federation said its prosecutor, Stefano Palazzi, had charged a total of 30 'subjects' for sporting fraud and violating fairness and probity, charges that can be punished by fines, bans and relegations.

Other than the four clubs, the statement did not name any others who will face charges in a trial that the Federation has said will end by July 9 - the date of the World Cup final.

The statement was issued little more than an hour after Italy's national side secured a place in the second round of the World Cup by beating the Czech Republic 2-0.

In a reminder of how the affair bridges Italy's favourite sport and finance, the FIGC was asked not to release the news during market trading hours to prevent disorderly trading in shares of Juventus and Lazio .

Since the scandal broke in early May, Juventus shares have lost half their value. Trading was temporarily suspended on Thursday ahead of the prosecutor's announcement after the stock shot up 10 percent.

A total of 30 people, including referees and club officials, are under investigation, but due to Italian privacy laws, none of the names could yet be released.

There were 45 people originally under investigation.

Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio are all being investigated on the count of violating Articles One and/or Six of the Sports Justice Code.

Milan are indirectly involved and are only being investigated under suspicion of violating Article One of the code.

Article One is a general rule which explains that `whoever is subject to the observation of the federation's rules must do so according to the principles of fairness, correctness and honesty'.

Article Six explains that `the execution, through any means, of acts aimed at altering the course or result of a match, or at ensuring an advantage to anybody in the league table is a punishable offence'.

If any of the clubs are found guilty of violating Article Six, they face the minimum penalty of automatic relegation to an inferior level.

An infringement of Article One is punishable by the docking of points in the subsequent season.

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Italian Giants React to Match Fixing Charges

TURIN, June 23 (Serie A) - Juventus and AC Milan reacted on Friday after prominent current and former members of the clubs were charged in the match-fixing scandal which has rocked Italian football.


On Thursday, Juve, Fiorentina, Lazio and Milan and 26 individuals were told they would answer charges in a sporting court over allegations of match-fixing.


The individuals have not been officially named due to privacy laws in the country.

However, AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani revealed he is among the 26 individuals who will stand trial in Rome next week.

Milan are being investigated for a suspected violation of Article One of the Sports Justice Code - which insists upon 'fairness, correctness and honesty'.

The maximum penalty is for points to be deducted going into the subsequent season.

Galliani has stepped down from his position as Lega Calcio president but insisted he is innocent of any wrong-doing.

'After I saw my name on the list of the accused, I resigned straight away as president of the Italian football league. Now I will live better, even if the accusation has been referred only on the basis of Article One,' said Galliani.

'I have decided to resign from my position as president of the Italian football league, but I wish to make it clear that this can not in any way be interpreted as an admission of responsibility.

'The charges against me are an injustice and I reiterate that I am a total stranger to this affair.'

Italian champions Juventus have confirmed former club directors Luciano Moggi and Antonio Giraudo will stand trial, also.

Along with Fiorentina and Lazio, Juventus are being investigated for suspected violations of both Article One and Article Six.

Article Six covers actions 'aimed at altering the course of result of a match, or at ensuring an advantage to anybody in the league table'. The minimum punishment is demotion to an inferior level.

Moggi's bugged phone calls discussing refereeing appointments triggered the current crisis when they were published.

He quit in May as Juve's general director.

Giraudo also stepped aside at the end of the season as the Juve board resigned en masse.

Juventus detailed in a lengthy press release the number of charges made against 'directors and the Company', including some against Moggi and Giraudo.

Juve said the pair will have to answer to the charge of 'behaviour contrary to the principles of loyalty, honesty and fairness and, at the same time, aimed at procuring an advantage in the championship in favour (of) the company Juventus...'

The club statement concluded by saying: 'The company reserves the right to verify if the statements made in the charge sheet are backed up by real elements of evidence, and reserves the right to undertake any activity that it holds appropriate for its defence in subsequent hearings.'

AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi is convinced his team will be cleared in the investigation.

His club are indirectly involved, and Berlusconi believes they have no case to answer.

In fact, he expects Milan to be awarded two Scudettos, claiming Juventus did not win them fairly.

He said: 'Milan have only been defrauded and I maintain my position: we expect as a minimum two titles.

'I have no fears about any eventual penalties.

'There is no possibility that Milan can come out of this situation with any responsibility that we don't have.

'Milan has absolutely nothing to do with this scandal, from either a penal or moral standpoint,' Berlusconi added.

Fiorentina also released a brief statement following the announcement that they were under investigation.

It read: 'Fiorentina announce that they have been notified of the charges by the Federal Appeal Commission and they have passed the information to their lawyers.'

The trial will commence at Stadio Olimpico in Rome next Wednesday.

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Juve, Lazio and Fiorentina relegated

Juventus, Lazio, and Fiorentina have been relegated from Serie A as a result of the match-fixing scandal.


AC Milan have avoided relegation, but will start next season with a 15-point deficit, and have had 44 points taken from their tally for the 2005-06 season.

Juventus have been stripped of their Serie A titles for each of the last two seasons. They will start next campaign with a 30-point deficit.

Fiorentina will start in Serie B with a 12-point deficit and Lazio a seven-point deficit.

The rulings mean that none of the four clubs will be allowed to play in Europe next season.

In addition to the punishments handed to the clubs, a number of the individual directors were suspended.

Former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi has been suspended from all football for five years.

Adriano Galliani, who was AC Milan vice-president, has been suspended for one year.

The four clubs will have up to three days to appeal to the Federal Court but a final verdict has to be announced before July 25, when the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) must give UEFA, Europe's football governing body, the list of teams that will compete in the continental club competitions in the 2006/07 campaign.

The scandal was uncovered as a result of a criminal investigation that was launched before the start of the 2004/05 campaign by the Naples prosecutors' office.

Telephone conversations between Moggi and a referees supremo in charge of the appointments of officials during the 2004/05 season were tapped.

Prosecutors based their probe on hundreds of bugged telephone calls between referee selectors, game officials and Moggi.

At the close of trading on Milan's stock exchange on Friday, Lazio shares had dropped 9.68% to 0.28 euros while Juventus went down to 1.45 euros - a fall of 1.15%.

An estimated 500 Lazio fans protested outside Rome's Parco dei Principi hotel as Federal Appeal Commission president Cesare Ruperto read out the verdicts inside.

More than 300 Fiorentina fans met up outside the Artemio Franchi stadium as a sign of protest but it was a different story in Turin with few Juventus supporters turning up at the club's headquarters in Via Galileo Ferraris.

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Juventus facing 'financial meltdown', fears expert

Juventus are heading for 'financial meltdown' unless they receive a huge cash injection from private investors over the next two or three years, according to a football finance expert.


The Turin club were last week ordered by a sports court in Rome to play in Serie B next season, after being exposed as having a central involvement in arguably the biggest corruption case in Italian football history.

It is questionable whether Juventus - who have also been stripped of their league titles in 2005 and this year - will escape another relegation at the end of next season, as they will kick-off the new campaign with a 30-point deduction.

Fiorentina and Lazio have also been relegated to Serie B and will start next season with 12 and seven-point deficits respectively.

AC Milan will start the 2006-07 campaign in Serie A with a 15-point deficit and have had 44 points deducted from their total last season - meaning they will not compete in the lucrative Champions League.

Of the four clubs, Juventus have certainly been hit the hardest, and relegation will take a severe toll on the club's finances.

'Around 80% of Juventus' revenue is from sponsorship and television rights deals, and I would expect the vast majority of that to disappear,' believes Stuart Whitwell, a joint managing director of brand consultancy Intangible Business.

'There is a triple-hit really. Juventus can expect a loss of at least 50% of its income overnight. Under the circumstances sponsors could drop out, and I expect many to do so.

'There will also be a major loss of players, and thirdly the image of the club is tarnished.

'Unless there is private investment from the Agnelli family (who own the club) or another source, Juventus will go out of business.

'They could suffer financial meltdown.

'I think Juventus will need private investments of around 125million euros (£86million) a year for perhaps the next two or three years to keep going.

'Juventus' ticket revenue is incredibly small for a club of its size and many sponsors will not want to be associated with the club. With the loss of income, Juventus will not be able to command a premium.

'I do think the Juve image will recover over time, because of the history of the club. Juve does have a bit of magic about it, and I expect that to help carry it through, but it will take years.'

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Lazio, Fiorentina reinstated to Serie A

Associated Press

7/25/2006 3:44:02 PM

ROME (AP) - A sports court allowed Fiorentina and Lazio to rejoin Italy's top soccer division and reduced the points penalty against Juventus in Serie B after successful appeals Tuesday in a match-fixing scandal.

Juventus' penalty was cut from 30 points to 17. Fiorentina will have 19 points docked next season, while Lazio will be deducted 11.

The court also cut AC Milan's points penalty in Serie A from 15 to 8.

A July 14 ruling stripping Juventus of its last two Serie A titles was upheld, though Milan will be allowed to play in the Champions League preliminary rounds this season.

Also upheld were five-year bans for former Juventus executives Luciano Moggi and Antonio Giraudo, figures at the centre of the scandal.

Hundreds of Lazio fans outside the hotel where the verdicts were delivered screamed in delight at the news their team was back in Serie A. Minutes later, they scattered when a sudden thunderstorm drenched them.

The ruling ended the process in Italy's sports court system. Any further appeals would need to be taken through the country's civil courts, which could delay the start of the season set for Aug. 28.

''For Juventus and its managers it's an absolutely unsatisfactory sentence,'' Moggi's lawyer Fulvio Gianaria said.

Juventus president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli said the club would challenge the verdicts in civil court, while Milan lawyer Leandro Cantamessa said the club was deciding whether to take that path.

If upheld or unchallenged, the demotion would be a first for Juventus since its inception in 1897. The Turin-based powerhouse has won 29 league titles - including the ones stripped Friday - two European Champions League titles, four Italian Supercups, three UEFA cups, two European Supercups and two Toyota or Intercontinental Cups.

The appeals body decision was announced a few hours after the close of the Milan stock exchange, where some of the clubs involved are listed.

In the earlier ruling, Fiorentina was sent down to Serie B and given a 12-point penalty to start next season, while Lazio was originally supposed to start the new season in Serie B with a seven-point penalty.

Each club appealed.

Juventus claimed the sanctions were excessive, and AC Milan argued that its Champions League ban was unlawful.

Soccer federation prosecutor Stefano Palazzi had argued for even tougher punishment. Palazzi called for Juventus to be demoted to Serie C. He also wanted Serie B demotions for Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio with point deductions.

Several Serie A soccer stars - including Italy and Fiorentina striker Luca Toni and Brazil and Milan playmaker Kaka - are expected to decide their club futures based on the outcome of the trial.

The stiffest penalties for officials were given to Moggi and Giraudo. The appeals tribunal confirmed the initial court's recommendation that asked the Italian soccer federation to ban them for life. The maximum punishment the sports court could impose is five years.

Other prominent officials had their sanctions reduced. Franco Carraro, the former head of the Italian soccer league who resigned in May and had originally received a 4½-year ban, was given a fine and a warning.

Fiorentina owner and industrialist Diego Della Valle had three months shaved off his four-year ban, while Lazio president Claudio Lotito was banned for 2½ years, a year less than in the initial sentence. Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani received a nine-month ban, instead of one year.

Meanwhile, UEFA gave the Italian federation until Wednesday - one extra day - to decide which clubs were eligible to play in European club competitions this coming season.

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Personally, I am disgusted about what happened in the appeals. As much as I am an AC Milan fan I feel that all four teams should be punished as they were originally. The teams that were originally put down to Serie B should be in Serie B for what they did. There's no excuse for bribing the refs. For what AC Milan did they shouldn't be in Champions League. Now it's almost like they got no penalty. So much for harsh penalties for those involved in coruption.

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Although not very knowledgable about soccer as you are Leona, I completely agree with you.

Thank you for these posts, because I did watch four games of the World Cup and am quickly becoming interested in the sport.