Andrea Masiello arrested in Bari match fixing investigation

By Andrew Warshaw

April 2 – Yet another serious match fixing episode, this time in Italy, moved on apace today when Atalanta defender Andrea Masiello (pictured) was arrested in connection with last season’s scandal in Serie A.

Eight of his former Bari teammates are also under investigation for possible rigging of games in what the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) described as “sensational developments”.

Bari’s final nine matches last season are all being probed including the derby in which Masiello’s own goal helped Lecce win 2-0 to avoid relegation after Bari had already been condemned to dropping into Serie B.

According to Italian news agency ANSA, Masiello admitted that he scored the own goal on purpose in order to receive €180,000 (£150,000/$240,000).

“I want to add that when the result was 1-0 to Lecce, I took advantage of an opportunity that was given to me so that I could definitely secure Bari’s defeat and so I could get the payment promised to me, thus scoring the own goal which sealed the match,” he apparently wrote to Bari prosecutors last week.

The Italian media identified the other players under investigation as Daniele Portanova, Alessandro Parisi, Simone Bentivoglio, Marco Rossi, Abdelkader Ghezzal, Marco Esposito, Antonio Bellavista and Nicola Belmonte.

Bari sports director Guido Angelozzi insisted they had nothing to do with any match manipulation.

“We thought it was a normal match,” he said of the Lecce game.

“The club is a damaged party in this.

“It gained no advantage from this at all.”

But FIGC President Giancarlo Abete (pictured) warned anyone found guilty would face the consequences.

“There will be zero tolerance and swift action by the sporting justice to clean up and pinpoint all those responsible,” he said.

According to media reports, Masiello was arrested at home in the early hours of Monday morning and taken to Bari on charges of criminal association and fraud.

He spent three and a half years at the club before moving to Atalanta last summer.

Last August, a number of players and teams were handed punishments ranging from fines to points deductions for their involvement with illegal betting.

The most high profile were former Italy internationals Cristiano Doni, banned from all football activity for three and a half years, and former Lazio captain Giuseppe Signori, given a five year ban.

Meanwhile, newly promoted Atalanta – where Doni played – started the season with a six point penalty.

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