Criscito out of Italy Euro 2012 squad following match-fixing allegations

By David Gold

May 29 – Domenico Criscito has been forced to withdraw from Italy’s squad for the 2012 European Championship as a result of the match-fixing probe in the country.

Yesterday it was revealed that a number of high-profile figures in the Italian game were being investigated and questioned, including Lazio captain Stefano Mauri.

In total 19 people were questioned with 14 being detained by police, weeks after the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) released a 48-page-long list naming a number of clubs and individuals in connection with the Calcioscommesse sports betting probe.

The list detailed 22 clubs and 61 individuals – 52 of them players – who had been reported to the football authorities in connection with the match-fixing ring and betting investigation.

Criscito, 25 (pictured top), Italy’s first choice left back who plays for Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg, is no longer part of the squad for Euro 2012 in Ukraine and Poland after being questioned by police at the national training camp at Coverciano in Florence.

He insisted that he was innocent, despite being photographed by police having lunch last year in Genoa with a former Genoa teammate, Giuseppe Sculli, two members of the club’s ‘Ultra’ fanbase and a known Bosnian criminal.

“I have nothing to do with this,” Criscito said.

“I was only out for dinner with some Genoa fans.”

Another high-profile individual under suspicion, Juventus coach Antonio Conte, has been questioned over allegations of match-fixing relating to his time as manager of Siena.

“My football history as a player and coach speaks volumes,” said Conte, who, in his first season, helped an unbeaten Juventus win the Serie A title for the first time since the notorious Calciopoli Italian football scandal of 2006 (pictured below).

“You can ask my teammates, my players and my opponents.

“Don’t forget that for my honesty and integrity I’ve had to confront an extreme aggression.

“I repeat: I and my players have nothing to do with these facts.

“What I want to know is why did the Cremona public prosecutor [Roberto Di Martino, pictured above, in centre] not speak to me before I was investigated?”

The scandal has unfortunate echoes of the much-publicised Calciopoli affair when, just before the FIFA World Cup finals in Germany four years ago, an investigation was launched which eventually saw 2005-2006 champions Juventus stripped of its Serie A title and relegated; Inter Milan was subsequently awarded the league championship crown.

AC Milan, Lazio, Fiorentina and Reggina Calcio were also punished for their roles in that scandal.

However, despite the domestic furore, Italy went on to lift that summer’s World Cup, and this year’s squad will be hoping that history bizarrely repeats itself at the Euros, which start next month.

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