Prosecutors in the northern city of
Cremona have requested that Italy coach Antonio Conte and 103
others be sent to trial for alleged offences related to match
fixing, ANSA sources said Tuesday.
Conte is accused of sporting fraud in relation to alleged
attempts to fix a match against AlbinoLeffe when he was in
charge of Siena in the second tier, Serie B, in the 2010-11
season.
A preliminary hearings judge will decide whether to accept
the request and indict Conte and the other suspects.
Prosecutors dropped a more serious charge against Conte,
that of criminal association, as well as allegations linked to
another match, against Novara, also in the 2010-11 season
campaign.
Other suspects facing possible trial, including former
Italy internationals Cristiano Doni and Beppe Signori, are
charged with criminal association in relation to the so-called
Last Bet probe.
Conte served a four-month ban while at Juventus at the
start of the 2012-2013 season after being found by a sporting
tribunal to have failed to report alleged match-fixing related
to the AlbinoLeffe and Novara matches.
The indictment request said Conte broke an agreement
between the nation's coaches and the Italian Soccer Federation
(FIGC) which stipulates that coaches must "safeguard the moral
conduct of players".
The 45-year-old coach was recently quoted as saying he
would resign if he is sent to trial, but subsequently made an
apparent U-turn, saying he had no intention of quitting.
On Tuesday he said he was "saddened" by the news but would
press on as coach.
FIGC President Carlo Tavecchio has also insisted that Conte
is staying in his job.
"In this country we have guarantees for everyone,
including Conte," Tavecchio said last week.
"An indictment is not a conviction".
Prosecutors also requested that former Atalanta boss
Stefano Colantuono be indicted for sporting fraud over
allegations a match at Crotone was fixed in 2012.
The Cremona-based Last-Bet probe, which started in 2011
and uncovered a web of match-fixing linked to international
gangs making money from betting, has already led to many fines
and suspensions for many players and points deductions for
clubs.
ANSA sources said indictment requests will be made 10
others, mostly foreign nationals, in relation to the probe in
the coming days.
The probe is only one of several match-fixing scandals to
hit Italian soccer recently.
Last week prosecutors said Catania Chairman Antonino
Pulvirenti had confessed to paying to fix five matches to ensure
the Sicilian club did not get relegated from Serie B last
season.
In May police said they had found a massive ring to fix
matches in the third and fourth tiers of Italian football for
betting scams.
Juventus were relegated and stripped of two Serie A titles
for involvement in the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal in 2006,
just ahead of the World Cup Italy won that year under Marcello
Lupi.
That scandal regarded schemes to have compliant referees
officiate some teams' matches.
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