By David Gold
August 5 – Leonardo Bonucci is facing a ban of up to three and a half years following a request by the prosecutor in the Italian match fixing scandal.
The Juventus defender (pictured top), who starred for Italy in the recent European Championships, is accused of being a party to the fixing of a match between Bari and Udinese in May 2010.
Bonucci played for Bari at the time and the game finished 3-3.
Another current Juventus player, Simone Pepe (pictured below), played for Udinese in the same match and is accused of failing to report the fixing.
The same charge has also been levelled at Juventus coach Antonio Conte relating to his time in charge of Siena.
He too is facing a ban from the game, and it is desperate misfortune for the Bianconeri.
Juventus, who won Serie A unbeaten last year, were relegated to Serie B as a result of the Calciopoli match fixing affair in 2006, and are now facing the prospect of losing three key men for a significant period of time if the trio are found guilty – despite the club not having anything to do with the current scandal.
The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) are currently carrying out an investigation into the Calcioscommesse affair, at which the Juventus trio have all appeared this week.
Stefano Palazzi, the prosecutor for the FIGC, has asked for a two point deduction for Bologna and for Lecce to be relegated to Serie C.
Sampdoria, recently promoted back into Serie A, have been docked one point for the upcoming season, whilst Bari have been penalised five points ahead of their new Serie B campaign.
Siena, who tried to agree a five point penalty as part of a plea bargain earlier this week, will start the new season six points down instead.
A number of other players are facing punishment if found guilty of involvement in match fixing.
The scandal carries on from an investigation last year which led to Atalanta being penalised six points at the start of last year’s Serie A.
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