Italy hear prosecutors wishes before World Cup Semi-Final

[TheDeli]

Looks like it could be very serious for Juventus, and Milan, Lazio & Fiorentina might not escape punishment

Next season could be Inter's best chance at winning Serie A again

Surely the timing of this isn't the best for the Italy semi-final this evening against Germany

Taken from Reuters

http://tinyurl.com/nk79e

Prosecutor wants Juve relegated two divisions
Tue Jul 4, 2006 2:25 PM BST10
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By James Eve and Robin Pomeroy

ROME (Reuters) - Champions Juventus should be relegated to the third division and three other top clubs thrown out of Italian football's top league, the prosecutor in a sports match-fixing trial said on Tuesday.

Stefano Palazzi told the tribunal that AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina should be despatched to Italy's second division, Serie B, and Juve also stripped of the Serie A titles they won in the last two seasons.

The prosecutor's demands are more severe than expected and came just hours before Italy were due to play World Cup hosts Germany in the semi-final in Dortmund at 8.00 p.m. British time.

Juve are at the centre of Italy's biggest sporting trial after phone taps revealed one of its top managers discussing referee appointments with officials. Palazzi said Juventus should be relegated to "below Serie B".

The prospect of Italy's most successful team plummeting into the also-rans of soccer sent a shiver through investors and the Milan stock exchange suspended Juve's shares.

In another blow, Juventus said coach Fabio Capello had resigned. Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon said on Monday he would appoint Capello, one of Italian soccer's most successful managers, as coach to the Spanish giants.

Juve stock was indicated down almost 14 percent soon after the trial news broke. Shares were indicated down 3.72 percent at 1.29 euros at 1:00 p.m.

Eight of the players likely to be in Italy's opening 11 against Germany are from teams standing trial. Juventus has five players in the Italy squad and three playing for France.

Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire who owns AC Milan, said he was "indignant" at the prosecutor's request to relegate his club and said Milan should be handed Juve's last two titles if the Turin team were found guilty.

"Milan have never had refereeing favours, on the contrary, they've been victims of refereeing favours in favour of other clubs," he said.

COACH QUITS

After two days of procedural wrangling, the sports trial at Rome's Olympic stadium began in earnest on Tuesday with some of the 26 defendants -- club officials, football federation staff, referees and linesmen -- personally pleading their case.

The tribunal has said it aims to deliver its verdicts on July 10, the day after the World Cup final in Berlin. All the accused have denied wrongdoing.

Former Juve chief executive Antonio Giraudo was one of the first to speak.

"All kinds of things go on in football: people give Rolexes to referees, people fix the accounts. What I'm saying is that this is an environment in which you have to protect yourself," he said.

Palazzi asked for Giraudo to be handed a five-year ban plus a 5,000 euro (3,470 pounds) fine for every instance of sporting fraud.

He asked for the same punishment for Luciano Moggi, Juve's former general manager, for brothers Diego and Andrea Della Valle, the owner and president of Fiorentina, and for Claudio Lotito, the chairman of Lazio

He also asked for all four teams to have points docked at the start of next season.

The lawyer representing former Italian Football Federation (FIGC) official Paolo Bergamo announced that his client had surrendered his membership of the FIGC and was not therefore liable to be tried by the sports tribunal.

Bergamo used to conduct the draw that assigned referees to Serie A matches.

Lawyer Gaetano Scalise criticised the tribunal's decision to allow intercepted telephone calls to be used as evidence and attacked the "media circus" around the trial.

Those found guilty can appeal and the appeals process must be finished by July 27 -- the deadline set by European soccer's ruling body for the FIGC to submit the list of teams for next season's Champions League and UEFA Cup competition.

[Antonio_]

Disgusting. The same prosecutor said AC Milan did the same exact things (IMO they did 10x worse things, and i've read all the documents). But LMAO @ them being punished less than Lazio & Fiorentina.

[mauzip]

Juventus players have a good reason to give 100% tonight then, lol

[Antonio_]

Juventus players have a good reason to give 100% tonight then, lol

They will. Have you seen how impressive are Buffon, Cannavaro & Zambrotta in this WC? Plus Vieira & Thuram.
The other ones (Camoranesi, Trezeguet & Del Piero) ain't playing enought, but if they will i'm sure they'll have the fire in their eyes.

[TheDeli]

Another twist as Juve say that Relegation to Serie B would be acceptable

The following is taken from the Belfast Telegraph

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/story.jsp?story=697800


'Relegation acceptable' as Juventus admit guilt

By Frank Dunne in Bologna
07 July 2006

In an extraordinary development in the Italian match-fixing hearing in Rome, the lawyer acting for Juventus said yesterday the club would accept relegation to Serie B next season as punishment, while Milan and Lazio claimed to have no case to answer.

Cesare Zaccone, who is defending Juve, told the judge, Cesare Ruperto: "The acceptable sanction would be that which has been proposed for the other clubs facing the same charges: Serie B with penalty points." He was gently reprimanded by Ruperto: "Don't say 'acceptable' - it sounds like you're bargaining with me."

Zaccone's observation came in response to the draconian punishments requested on Tuesday by Stefano Palazzi, the prosecutor for the Italian Football Federation. Palazzi had called for Juventus to be relegated to the third or fourth division, Serie C1 or C2, with six points deducted, for Fiorentina and Lazio to be sent down to the second division, Serie B, with 15 points deducted, and for Milan to be relegated to the second division with three points deducted. Final verdicts are expected between 20 and 27 July.

Surprise greeted Zaccone's statement. Antonio Di Pietro, a minister in Romano Prodi's government and a former magistrate who made his name during the "Clean Hands" corruption trials in 1992, said that to "pre-announce the acceptance of Serie B with points deducted is a clear admission of guilt".

Until Wednesday, the club had distanced itself from the activities of its former sporting director, Luciano Moggi, who is accused of setting up a network of referees who favoured the club in key matches. The dramatic change of strategy is probably dictated by the fear that relegation to the third or fourth division would bankrupt the club.

Juventus, who can expect an exodus of their best players, are Italy's richest club but are not bankrolled by the wealthy patrons, the Agnelli family, owners of Fiat motors. Around 80 per cent of the club's income comes from television-rights deals and sponsorship.

Juve earn €95m (£66m) a season from Rupert Murdoch's Sky Italia pay-television company, have a €187.2m (£130m) 12-year kit-supply deal with sports goods manufacturer Nike, and a €102m (£71m), five-year sponsorship deal with Libyan oil firm Tamoil. Each deal would be renegotiated if relegation occurs. Going down to Serie B would lead to a significant, but sustainable, reduction in value, but being exiled to the wilderness of the third division would render the contracts virtually worthless.

Gian Michele Gentile, the lawyer for Lazio, said that the Rome club would not be following Juventus in suggesting an acceptable punishment. "We are innocent. We have nothing to admit."

Marco De Luca, a lawyer for Adriano Galliani, vice-president of six-times European champions Milan, conceded during the hearing that his client ought to have denounced what he knew of irregularities - but that was not an offence.

[Antonio_]

Another twist as Juve say that Relegation to Serie B would be acceptable

LOL, just another lie. Fuck the press. Our lawyer said that since we are accused of the same exact things of AC Milan, the prosecutor should have asked for use the same penalization he asked for AC Milan: Serie B. That's far from saying Serie B would be acceptable. But hey, the media just doesn't care: for them we've accepted Serie B. LMAO.