By David Gold
December 28 – Three Serie A games were targeted by a betting ring which sought to manipulate the results of football matches according to former Piacenza defender Carlo Gervasoni (pictured).
Gervasoni has been giving testimony to Roberto di Martino, the prosecutor carrying out an investigation into allegations of match fixing in Italy, since yesterday.
Earlier this year, a number of players and teams were handed punishments ranging from fines to points deductions for their involvement with the betting ring.
The most high profile of these punishments were handed out to former Italy internationals Cristiano Doni, who was banned from all football activity for three and a half years, and Beppe Signori, given a five year ban, whilst newly promoted Serie A side Atalanta started the season with a six point penalty.
That initial inquiry was handled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), who conducted an investigation into a number of Serie B and lower league games, and the latest inquiries are being carried out by police and Cremona prosecutors.
Italian daily Corriere Della Sera has reported the testimony given by Gervasoni, which implicates a number of players in the scandal.
Palermo’s 2-1 win over Bari and Lazio’s 4-2 victories over both Lecce and Genoa are the games alleged to have been targeted, and Gervasoni implied that the organisations who attempted to manipulate these results looked to bribe players involved.
There was no suggestion that any of the players from those teams were involved or even contacted as yet, whilst none of the clubs were implicated in the investigation carried out by the FIGC earlier this year.
Gervasoni has named 20 footballers involved in the alleged match fixing as the investigation continues.
Meanwhile, Doni has this week admitted his guilt according to the ANSA news agency, having previously maintained his innocence, saying that he did so “only because of the passion which linked me to my team and the hope of being able to help them that season”.
Doni’s former club Atalanta responded to by expressing their surprise and “great bitterness”.
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