[Archived] Italian Refereeing Scandal

[Oklahoma]

Juve keeps the titles. Serie B -17 points in 2006/07

Milan -30 points in 2005/06, -8 in 2006/07

Fiorentina -19 points in 2006/07

Lazio: -30 points in 2005/06, -11 points in 2006/07

What a farse!

Might as well do nothing!

[brfcshabba]

Apparently Juve and Fiorentina will appeal again

Italian season will probably be delayed.

[Oklahoma]

Well, if all appeals work out like this one, they will end up receiving money and be crowned "The best Mafia ever"

[philipl]

So Juve and Fiorentina go into next season's Champs League and AC go into the UEFA if I read that correctly???

Will UEFA agree?

As for Juve keeping two blatantly rigged Scudettos, have the Italians no shame? Inter fans will be furious.

Carry on fixing lads.

Unfortunately, this looks like it could be bad news for Rovers- will be more difficult to keep Neill and the trickle down will stop/be reversed. Have to say the Mancs have missed out big time and Real and Barca are the real winners in this Italian farce.

Of course the Italian League will be delayed- they haven't started on the likes of Reggina, Sienna and Messina yet. And what about all the allegations going back to 2001?

Edited July 25, 2006 by philipl

[Oklahoma]

Fiorentina also got 30 points less this season.

The 2005/06 championship ends like this:

Juve 91 points

Inter 76

Roma 69

Milan 58

Chievo 54

Palermo 52

[philipl]

So they've rigged it for Milan to stay in the CL!

[brfcshabba]

AC will play in the preliminery rounds of the Champions League. Fiorentina, Juve or Lazio won't be in europe

Juve keeps the titles.

They are still stripped of the titles

Edited July 25, 2006 by Cookiemonster

[tcj_jones]

Cannot believe the appeal was successful. Juventus will be straight back in Serie A next season and the implications of one season out of Europe for Lazio and Fiorentina will be like a slap on the wrist. AC Milan haven't even been punished to be honest!

Absolute disgrace.

[Radagast]

Obviously the punishment was made very severe with the intent to reduce it on appeal being there from the very start. What a joke.

[Mr. E]

what ??

they can't just juggle teams through the divisions whenever they please can they ? I mean ok, I can understand the points reductions being reduced a bit, but letting them back into Serie A ??

Although, I don't know what I'm surprised at. It is Italy, after all.

[neekoy]

What for the appeals from Lecce and Co now that they have been dropped back into Serie B because of the appeal.

Uefa should ban Italy from ALL european competitions until a verdict worthy of match fixing has been reached

They banned Greece for less for fsake

[Grabbi Graeme]

Italian football is a farce these decisions are a joke, sending out a message you can cheat and get a heftty penalty but on appeal it wont be that bad.

[USABlue]

Begs the question, who got to the Judges.

[philipl]

This report is not altogether surprising: http://breakingnews.iol.ie/sport/story.asp...276938&t=soccer

UEFA banned Marseille for match fixing 13 years ago and are looking at that precedent when they consider the FICG's nomination of AC Milan for the Champions League.

What is not in doubt is that AC are guilty- punishments are duly being administered following both a hearing and the appeal and as such UEFA are within their rights to say they are not wanted in their competition.

Even worse, Galliano's ban has only been reduced by three months but because its not effective yet, up he has popped today saying all kinds of derogatory things about Real Madrid and declaring war over the Kaka transfer bid. In England, he'd be hauled up for disrepute had he said a tiny fraction of the stuff he mouthed off this morning.

All in all, the attempt at sporting justice by the Italians looks discredited/questionable at best or a down right sham at worst.

What new evidence was presented to the Appeals Hearing? How was it so decisive in changing the sentences? Why did such new evidence only come to light at the Appeal?

ALL of football deserves to know.

Italian football had the opportunity to draw a line under its dirty past and the Appeal judgement completely funked it.

I hope the Civil Court Appeals are slow, the Criminal Court hearings unveil new evidence of naughtiness that the Sports World will want punishing and that the Sporting Tribunals into Reggina and another as yet un-named club, plus the separate Messina, Sienna and three other smaller clubs all go to protracted appeal. Far from starting four weeks late in September, the legal mess the Sports Tribunal has now put itself into could well drag out the start of the Serie A/B seasons for months- after all nobody will know what division all the clubs are in until the last judgement is delivered.

Edited July 26, 2006 by philipl

[Oklahoma]

I'm not sure but I think there was no new evidence.

I think at least AC Milan should be banned from CL and Uefa cup.

And possibly, the same should happen to the other 3 teams in the future.

And, just to penalize the italian football for this farse, one place less in the CL. (2 in + 1 in 3rd round qualifying)

[philipl]

According to the BBC, there is another level of sporting appeal to go to before the clubs turn to the Regional Courts which a few years ago over-turned a previous match fixing relegation penalty leading to Serie A expanding to 20 clubs!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/5216866.stm

With Juve, Lazio and Fiorentina all appealing their FIGC-imposed European bans, who knows which club now qualifies for what?

UEFA must be close to throwing the Italians out sine die which would be cruel on Inter.

[Oklahoma]

It would be cruel to all teams that are not involved.

But if that is what it takes for the Italian FA and all involved to stop this farse, hope it happens.

[brfcshabba]

Inter have been awarded the title

[philipl]

Any decision on the stripped 2004/5 scudetto?

Just watched a Reuters report which suggested that Juve can keep their appeals process going well into 2007. You can see what is coming- a dirty deal whereby Juve et al drop t5heir appeals and all but get forgiven.

It is going to be very important that UEFA take a stance about not allowing clubs found guilty of match-fixing to compete in UEFA competitions.

Whether they will or not remains to be seen but there is probably enough self-interest elsewhere in Europe to kick the Italians whilst they are down.

G14 have been very quiet- are we going to see the G14 insisting on the re-instatement of the match fixers in return for the match fixers not using their exclusion to drive a super-league?

Anything is possible in the ultra-murky world of international soccer.

[philipl]

There is no scudetto awarded for 2004/5 now.

The Italian Press seems unimpressed according to this agency report which I cannot seem to get to link to:

Italy press slams softened penalty

Afp, Rome

The Italian press on Wednesday slammed magistrates in Serie A's match-fixing trial for their dramatic climbdown which saw Lazio and Fiorentina reinstated in the top division and AC Milan allowed into the third preliminary round of the Champions League.

The three clubs received softer penalties after successful appeals against their original sentences for influencing the outcome of match results in the 2004/05 season. Juventus, the ringleaders in the scandal, had their relegation to Serie B confirmed but with fewer points deducted for the new season.

"A rotten trick," headlined Il Libero newspaper. "The usual fudged Italian compromise. This isn't justice. Once again the magistrates have chosen the 'Italian' solution."

La Repubblica were equally damning of the judges' u-turn. "The embarrassing and disheartening appeal verdict saw everything swept under the carpet," it wrote. "Only Juve pay, the rest are pardoned. It's the same old timid handling by the sports tribunal.

"Discounts for everybody and an incredible gift for AC Milan. It ended with reduced sentences for all and an unpleasant feeling that football wants to pretend that at the end of the day nothing happened.

"It's scandalous to put your head in the sand and make out that it was just an hallucination."

Juventus, the club most heavily implicated in the scandal and whose last two league titles (in 2004-05 and 2005-06) were stripped from them, were given a 17-point penalty for the start of next season rather than 30, giving them a chance of a swift return to the top division.

Lazio and Fiorentina won back their places in Serie A with penalties of 11 and 19 points respectively, but together with Juventus were prevented from participating in European competitions next season.

Most surprising was the leniency shown by the judges towards AC Milan. The club owned by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi received a potentially lucrative reprieve after they were allowed to take part in next season's Champions League preliminary round.

If they win the two-legged tie and qualify for the main draw, they are likely to earn millions of euros in gate receipts and television money and will fancy their chances of going far in a tournament in which they have had great past success.

"A little sting," headlined sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport. "Reductions in sentences for everybody. The biggest beneficiary on an exhausting day was AC Milan, given a chance to reach the Champions League."

The presidents of Lazio and Fiorentina have said they will take their cases up with the civil courts in attempt to win back their places in European competition.

However Wednesday was deadline day set by UEFA, European football's governing body, for the entry lists for their competitions.

As it stands, Inter Milan, who are expected to be awarded last season's league title, and Roma will have direct entry into the Champions League group stages, while AC Milan and Chievo will go into the third qualifying round.

Palermo, Livorno and Parma will take part in the UEFA Cup.

[philipl]

Uefa are funking it as well. They have postponed a decision on AC Milan meaning they go into the third Qualifying Round Draw.

Meantime the two guys appointed to clean up Italian soccer are on the point of resigning whilst Moggi claims he is just on holiday...

[jobo380]

what has happened here is absolutley disgusting i think that the first set of punishments were just fair. at that point they should have said that there is no chance of appeal and that would be the end of it. they have been proved guilty of cheating and yet they keep wanting more and more until there will be no punishment at all.

this was a great chance for italian football to stand up and say 'no' we will not accept cheating of any form in our game. surely there must be suspicions now that even this appeals system has some underhand dealings going on?? this is just my idea and i would hope that it is not true.

[daren]

I'm kinda interested the the expansion of the scandal. Apparently those four teams weren't the only ones with their fingers in the pie.

Interestingly, the accusations against Milan aren't the same set as levelled against everyone else, as far as I can tell. It's to do with a phone call from Galiani (sp?) their vice-president. They're also the only ones to have claimed that they were innocent. I couldn't find more on the specific allegations or the evidence in English. I hope Moggi gets locked away for a while though.

It's harsh on the players and fans allright, but far worse to let this go unpunished in footballing terms. Clubs need to know that the punishments are severe enough to be daunting. After all, 26 or so years ago, Fiorentina AND Milan were relegated for match-fixing, and that's not long enough ago that they could have forgotten, surely.

Looking up stuff on the interweb, it turns out Marseille only got stripped of their title for match-fixing, and the following demotion and being sent to the doldrums was for financial irregularity. Would you believe, the punishment levied on Juventus is the most severe in the history of football, apparently!

[philipl]

Two part article going behind the scenes on the scandal.

Has anyone read the precise details of what AC and Galliano got up to? I haven't yet.

[daren]

So after all the mucking about, AC Milan have the green light from UEFA to play in the Champions League.

Juventus are hoping to get their titles reinstated and be put back in Serie A after their next appeal (after accepting that relegation was only right after the first verdict. Apparently it's not as much fun with no company.

And to top it all off, there's another two major scandals about to blow in Italy, apparently. One is to do with financial irregularities and the other to do with passports (maybe that's why Rovers were trying to get a work permit in holland for Mido ). Their league is almost definitely not going to start on time!