Italian soccer was rocked further
Wednesday as more games were put under the spotlight in the
latest betting-related match-fixing probe to hit the Bel Paese's
form of the beautiful game.
As Premier Matteo Renzi and Italian Soccer Federation
(FIGC) President Carlo Tavecchio called for urgent action,
investigators identified five more suspect matches in the probe
into alleged match-fixing in the third and fourth tiers of
Italian soccer.
The matches regard at least three teams, including
Salernitana, owned by Lazio Chairman Claudio Lotito, who have
won promotion to the second tier, Serie B, from Lega Pro.
The other two teams are Benevento and Ascoli.
Both sides reached the Lega Pro promotion play-offs but
were defeated.
On Tuesday prosecutors arrested 50 people and said that
over 30 teams from Italy's Lega Pro and Serie D, the third and
fourth tiers, were allegedly involved in the so-called Dirty
Soccer probe, with 28 matches from the current campaign under
suspicion.
Investigators believe that the Calabrian-based 'Ndrangheta
mafia was involved.
Notes with betting odds and instructions and the names of
teams alleged involved were found in police searches on Tuesday
as part of the operation to detain the suspects, ANSA sources
said Wednesday.
One of the notes read: "If they catch us, they'll arrest
us".
Investigators believe that the instructions in the notes
were needed to prevent too much money being bet on any given
match and avoid bringing down the odds and arousing suspicions.
Lotito said he was undeterred by news of suspect
Salernitana games.
"I'm going ahead like a train," he told ANSA, "I don't
care about all these lies."
Asked about notes with odds and fixed matches, he said
"Are you kidding?"
Tavecchio, the FIGC chief, vowed that "everything in our
power will be done to clean up the game.
"We are the damaged party here. We will stand as
plaintiffs if it comes to trial," he added.
Renzi, meanwhile, said he was "disgusted" by the latest in
the long series of scandals to hit Italian soccer and called for
an overhaul of the sport's governance, excluding people with a
"dubious' approach.
"It's time to say no more to the fact that characters who
have a dubious approach govern soccer at all levels," Renzi told
the RTL radio station.
"I make an a appeal to the (Italian Soccer) Federation, to
the (Serie A) League, to (Italian Olympic Committee) CONI, to
give football back to the families".
Renzi said the latest match-fixing scandal was
"embarrassing" and said he was "disgusted".
"Football belongs to families, not to controversy
specialists or TV rights consulting companies," he added.
Italian soccer has been hit by a series of match-fixing
probes in recent years.
The massive Last Bet operation, which started in Cremona
in 2011 and had branches in Bari and Naples over attempts to fix
matches in Serie A and Serie B, has lead to a series of
convictions and sporting suspensions for players involved.
In 2006 Juventus were relegated and stripped of two Serie
A titles for involvement in the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal
regarding schemes to have compliant referees officiate some
teams' matches.
Damiano Tommasi, the head of Italian professional
footballers association AIC, said that Tuesday's probe
highlighted the dangers of allowing betting on amateur games.
"Opening the amateur world to betting was risky because
there are more than 160 teams and the matches are not
broadcast," the former AS Roma and Italy midfielder said.
"So it's difficult to check on them. Our world is tempting
for people pursuing crime. Clarification is needed as soon as
possible".
Serie D is made up of predominantly amateur players.
FIGC Prosecutor Stefano Palazzi has requested the case
documentation from prosecutors so he can look into eventual
sporting procedures.
Meanwhile there were further developments Wednesday in a
second storm to hit Italian soccer this week, an anti-trust
probe into the Italian Soccer League and pay-TV operators over
suspicions that broadcasters may have struck
competition-limiting deals when it came to bidding for soccer TV
rights.
The anti-trust authority said Wednesday it had never OK'd
any alleged deal between Sky Italia and Mediaset to divvy up
Serie A TV soccer rights.
Silvio Berlusconi's group and the Italian division of
Rupert Murdoch's empire are being probed - not criminally, but
by the regulator - for possibly agreeing on a rights
cartel.
"The anti-trust authority never authorised any agreement
distorting competition on TV rights for the 2015-2018 seasons,"
the authority said in a statement.
In response, Sky Italia CEO Andrea Zappia said the company
was confidently awaiting the end of the probe.
He said he did not want to "arbitrarily" comment on any
statements from the authority.
"There's no point trying to interpret the authority's
words," Zappia told ANSA, adding "our position has been clear -
we won the Serie A and Serie B rights".
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