An Italian Soccer Federation
(FIGC) tribunal on Thursday demoted Catania from the second
Serie B tier to the third tier, Lega Pro, and handed the club a
12-point penalty next season for match fixing - the latest in a
string of cases that have dented the image of Italian soccer.
Criminal prosecutors have said Catania Chairman Antonino
Pulvirenti confessed to buying five matches last season to
prevent the club being relegated from Serie B.
The FIGC court banned Pulvirenti for five years.
Savona and Teramo were demoted to the fourth tier, Serie D.
Several hefty fines were also inflicted.
Earlier this month Pulvirenti said he would be leaving the
world of soccer and selling the club after admitting to the
match-fixing.
"It was my first time and also my last because I am leaving
this world for good," he said.
The case is the latest in a string of match-fixing
investigations to sully the image of Italian soccer in recent
years.
In July prosecutors in the northern city of
Cremona requested that Italy coach Antonio Conte and 103
others be sent to trial for alleged offences related to match
fixing.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
The probe is only one of several match-fixing scandals to
hit Italian soccer recently.
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.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
