ROME, 15 July 2006 — Juventus, Lazio and Fiorentina were relegated to the Italian second division yesterday as punishment for being implicated in the country’s match-fixing scandal, but AC Milan were handed a Serie A reprieve.
Juventus were also deducted 30 points from their total for next season and stripped of their last two league titles.
Lazio and Fiorentina were also relegated to Serie B and penalized seven points and 12 points respectively.
AC Milan will stay in Serie A but will lose 15 points and will be kicked out of the Champions League.
The decisions were handed out just five days after Italy won the World Cup with a penalty shoot-out victory over France in Berlin.
The teams will have three days to appeal before a federal court of arbitration and a final decision will be given by July 24.
The scandal broke after transcripts of former Juve general manager Luciano Moggi telling the head of Italy’s refereeing commision what officials he wanted appointed to specific games were published in the Italian media.
As well as the four clubs, 26 individuals were on trial for sporting fraud.
They include club officials, Italian Football Federation figures, referees and linesman.
The match-fixing revelations hit the headlines in May.
Despite calls from some for the clubs to be granted an amnesty as a result of Italys World Cup success — 13 of the national squad belong to the four teams implicated — Italian Football Federation (FIGC) commissioner Guido Rossi dismissed the idea.
If appeals are launched, the FIGC wants them finalized by July 25, the deadline for the names of the clubs to be submitted to UEFA to enter the Champions League and UEFA Cup next season.
The verdicts yesterday were handed down by a disciplinary panel made up of five retired judges.
Jury president Cesare Ruperto, 81, earlier this week took a swipe at criticism that the tribunal was a kangaroo court aimed at reaching a snap decision to clarify clubs’ league status before the new season.
Juventus, the club in the eye of the storm over allegations referees were picked to favor certain teams in key matches in the 2004/05 season, had said they would accept relegation to the second division in a bid to turn the page on one of Italian football’s sorriest chapters.
Justice Minister Clemente Mastella said he understood requests for an amnesty in the light of the World Cup success, but Rome’s socialist mayor Walter Veltroni said the sport had to be cleaned up.
And the players were not given to leniency either.
“I don’t know if I’m going to stay with Juventus,” said Azzuri goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon before Sunday’s World Cup final.
AC Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso said: “Giving an amnesty to the guilty parties in this scandal would be unfair and disappointing to millions of fans awaiting these sentences.” Faced with the damning evidence of hours of criminal investigators’ wiretaps implicating key figures, the clubs’ lawyers argued that the transcripts were misinterpreted or taken out of context.
Former Italian football federation official Paolo Bergamo, who had responsibility for referee selection, for instance, is overheard telling a match official: “Try to be on the right wave length.” Absent, however, from the tribunal was Moggi, who was overheard telling Pierluigi Pairetto, the head of the Italian referees’ association, which match officials he wanted assigned to certain league and European games.
Moggi’s lawyer Paolo Trofino reiterated demands last week that he could not be tried as he had resigned from the club.
Arena Steps Down as Coach of US Soccer
In Washington, Bruce Arena will not be retained as coach of the US national soccer team, it was announced yesterday.
The US were knocked out in the first round of the World Cup finals in Germany last month, losing to the Czech Republic and Ghana and drawing with eventual winners Italy.
The 54-year-old Arena was the most successful national coach in US soccer history, winning 71 of his 130 matches in charge during an eight-year spell. “Bruce Arena’s success on the field for the United States is unprecedented,” said US Soccer President Sunil Gulati. “But it is more than just the results he has achieved on the field. “Simply said, no one has done more to lift the stature and respect of our men’s team worldwide. “We appreciate Bruce’s years of service to US Soccer, and as we move forward we will be looking for someone to build on the success he has established for our men’s program and our organization.”
