The financial scandals that may engulf four of Italy’s major clubs, was turned up a few degrees yesterday, with news that Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio, and Fiorentina, will all face charges, with relegation a real possibility.
Readers will be aware that Italy’s former right wing president, and sometime nightclub crooner, Silvio Berlusconi, owns AC Milan.
This scandal would put the once great Italian game back decades, and reaffirm many people’s perceptions, both of Italian business practices, and widespread corruption in football.
From The Guardian, link:
Juventus, along with Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina, could face relegation for their part in the scandal with 26 further people - but no players - also indicted by the prosecutor conducting a special investigation into the allegations, with the hearings to begin at Rome’s Olympic Stadium next Wednesday. Neither the identity of the individuals nor the precise nature of the charges have been revealed.
[...]
Confirmation of the indictments of the four clubs and 26 individuals by the Italian Football Federation’s prosecutor, Stefano Palazzi, was delayed until after the game in Hamburg with 13 members of Lippi’s squad employed by the clubs concerned.
The federation said all the indictments were for violation of articles one and/or six of the Code of Sporting Justice. Article one covers “general duties and obligations” while article six deals with sporting infractions and the obligation to report them. Juventus, the club at the centre of the scandal, are thought to be at greatest risk of relegation, possibly as far down to Serie C1, and are likely to be stripped of the league titles won over the last two years. The federation has promised it will be over by July 9, the date of the World Cup final.
More: the BBC has the story, here.
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Signore Berlusconi is mafioso-laureate for his activities. Having being elected PM in Italy is one of those ironies of fate which so often are happening in politics of late.
Nothing this Italian does ever surprises me. He has been born a mafioso and will die one.
A real Scumbag isn’t he.
I heard today that each of the teams will go down to Serie C.
Those 13-members of the Italian squad, not to mention the non-Italians who play for the above quartet, will soon be on the market at a knockdown price.
I think Chelsea paid over the odds for Shevchenko now!
Imagine it: Kaka, Nesta, Cannavaro, Viera, Del Piero, Trezeguet, Cafu - all available. I think Barca, Man Utd, Real, Chelsea, and Arsenal will be wetting their appetite!