By Andrew Warshaw
July 11 – Lazio and Genoa face starting next season in Serie A with a points deduction as a result of the latest revelations in Italy’s match-fixing scandals. The two top-flight clubs, plus Lecce, face sanctions as do eight players accused of “sporting fraud” by the Italian football federation, allegedly involving sums of up to €500,000 in bribes.
The matches under investigation are Lazio’s final two games of the 2010-11 season when they beat Genoa 4-2 at home and Lecce by the same score away, and finished fifth in Serie A that campaign.
The on-going investigation comes to trial on July 24, with Lazio captain Stefan Mauri facing charges along with Mario Cassano, Carlo Gervasoni, Omar Milanetto, Alessandro Zamperini, Massimiliano Benassi, Antonio Rosati and Stefano Ferrario.
Mauri and Zamperini have also been cited for violating two articles of the Code of Sports Justice. If the charges are proved, the players face bans while the clubs involved could be deducted points. Cassano and Zamperini are already serving five-year bans imposed last year over different cases.
Reports in Italy say the prosecutor Stefano Palazzi could ask for a five-year suspension for Mauri. But Matteo Melandri, who is representing Mauri, said he does not expect that.
“We’re not surprised [he’s been referred] because all of the papers have been talking about it, but what does surprise us is that only one Lazio player and one Genoa player are involved in what is being presumed as being a fixed game,” he told Sky Sport 24.
“If the facts are the same as a year ago, we have already explained them, but we have to see if we are faced with a larger and different accusation to last year.”
At least 50 people have been arrested in Italy for match-fixing since mid-2011, with matches under investigation by prosecutors in Cremona, Bari and Napoli. Earlier this week, two Serie A players were banned for three months and 10 days and fined €10,000.
Torino striker Paulo Vitor de Souza Barreto and Genoa defender Giovanni Marchese entered plea bargains and were handed the bans by the Italian federation for failing to report alleged match-fixing in a Serie B match between Salernitana and Bari in May 2009. Salernitana won the game 3-2.
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