No amnesty in Italian match fixing scandal

Four top clubs – champions Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina – risk relegation from series A if they are found guilty of sporting fraud at the ongoing sports tribunal in Rome.

Eight players of the clubs involved in the scandal represented Italy in Tuesday’s semi-final against Germany. Now that the team has reached the World Cup final, the pressure for a reprieve from supporters of the clubs is likely to increase.

But Sports Minister Giovanna Melandri has made it clear that she will resist the pressure.

“It is stupid to talk of an amnesty. Football needs major reform. The national team’s matches are one thing, the sporting trials are another. Let’s keep them separate,” she told Donna Moderna magazine according to the Italian news agency ANSA.

Juventus lawyer: relegation acceptable

Prosecutor Stefano Palazzis charged the four clubs with sporting fraud on Tuesday and recommended that Juventus should be relegated to the third division and the other three to series B.

On Wednesday Juventus lawyer Cesare Zaccone began his address to the tribunal by saying the club should not be held responsible for the actions of their former management, who stepped down when the scandal emerged. But if the club was found guilty of the charges, “an acceptable punishment could be that of the other clubs, in other words (relegations to) the second division with points deducted,” according to Reuters.

AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina have all distanced themselves from the reigning champions after they suggested they might settle for relegation and insisted that all charges against them should be droppped.

Former Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is the owner of AC Milan and has said that the investigation is part of a campaign against him.

“Milan has never had refereeing favours, on the contrary, they have been victims of refereeing favours in favour of other clubs,” he told Reuters.

Rolexes to referees

The former Juventus general manager, Luciano Moggi, considered the man at the heart of the match-fixing network has not appeared at the trial, raising doubts whether he will turn up at all.

Other prominent names among the 25 listed on the charge sheet took the opportunity to personally plead their case.

“All kinds of things go on in football: people give Rolexes to referees, people fix the accounts. What I’m saying is that this is an environment in which you have to protect yourself,” former Juventus chief Antonio Giraudo told the tribunal according to Reuters.

The prosecutor has asked for Giraudo to be handed a five-year ban from the sport plus a €5.000 fine for every instance of sporting fraud. The same punishment has been asked for Moggi, for brothers Diego and Andrea Della Valle, the owner and president of Fiorentina, and for Claudio Lotito, the chairman of Lazio.

He also asked for a six point penalty for Juventus at the start of the new season in series C. Lazio and Fiorentina face 15 point penalties, and AC Milan could be penalised three points in series B.

Juventus could survive one drop

According to Financial Times the consensus is that Juventus could probably survive a drop of one division. The club would lose money from sponsorship and television rights, players might leave but eventually the club will bounce back.

The cost could be over €200 millions over two years, Stuart Whithell, joint managing director of Intangible Business, told Financial Times.

The tribunal has said it aims to deliver its verdicts on Monday 10 July, the day after the World Cup final between Italy and France in Berlin.

Those found guilty can appeal and the appeals process must be finished by 27 July– the deadline set by UEFA for the FIGC to submit the list of teams for next season’s Champions league and UEFA Cup competitions.