Italian PM Suggests Three-Year Suspension Of Football League After Match-Fixing Scandals
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Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti has called for a two to three-year hiatus for the entire football league in the country following a spate of match-fixing incidents, which have resulted in over 50 men arrested in the last year.
Over the last few years, the Italian football league, known as Serie A, have been rocked by a match fixing scandal that has seen players, coaches and even officials questioned by the police.
Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti has called for a two to three-year hiatus for the entire football league in the country following a spate of match-fixing incidents, which have resulted in over 50 men arrested in the last year.
Over the last few years, the Italian football league, known as Serie A, have been rocked by a match fixing scandal that has seen players, coaches and even officials questioned by the police.
In 2006, defending league champions Juventus Football Club were stripped of their last two titles, and relegated to the lower leagues after an investigation discovered that the club’s general manager was influencing referees and arranging the results of games.
On Monday, Italian police once again made numerous arrests of both players and coaches, with national team defender Domenico Criscito forced to pull out of the Euro 2012 squad after the police raided the national team’s training camp.
[quote]“It’s particularly sad when a world which should be an expression of the highest values – sport, youth, competition, fairness – turns out to be a mass of foul play, falsehood and demagoguery,” said Monti, as quoted by The Telegraph.[/quote]“Football should be stopped for two to three years. It is not a proposal by the government but a question I am asking as someone who was passionate when football was still football,” he added.
But despite his assertions, the Prime Minister’s comments are unlikely to be welcomed by both fans and officials of the Italian football community.
“I understand and share the bitterness of Prime Minister Monti,” said Italian soccer federation president Giancarlo Abete in a statement.
[quote]“But to stop the championship would mean humiliating all of football, penalising the majority who work honestly and it would also mean the loss of thousands of jobs. It is not the solution.”[/quote]“Before saying we need to stop playing football he should think about his own problems and everything he is destroying and closing down with his laws,” added Maurizio Zamparini, president of Palermo football club.
[quote]“Monti is showing his ignorance because professional football clubs pay 800 million euros ($1 billion) to the state every year,” he said.[/quote]Related: Illegal Bookies, Crooked Players & Asian Gangs
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According to investigators, the match-fixing ring behind the scandal stretches as far as Singapore and South America, and may have even incorporated members of the Italian mafia. Though viewership numbers have dwindled over the years, millions of football fans around the world still tune in to watch Italian football games each year.
