ITALY: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Footballer Andrea Masiello arrested for alleged match-fixing

Record ID: 254470

  • Title: ITALY: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Footballer Andrea Masiello arrested for alleged match-fixing
  • Date: 6th April 2012
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (APRIL 5, 2012) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ROME RESIDENT MARCO DI LUCIO SAYING: "I believe soccer has become, unfortunately, just a business. The mechanism of star players and competition among them brings this kind of degeneration. We need to re-take soccer to its appropriate role: a pleasant sport that people go and watch. The fact that we have plenty
  • Embargoed: 21st April 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy, Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Crime,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVABARP2CCLHAIB5NP68C9N96VUX
  • Story Text: Former Bari defender Andrea Masiello - now playing for Atalanta - was arrested on Monday (April 2) in connection with alleged match-fixing in Serie A last season as Italian soccer faced up to the latest in a string of scandals.
    Eight of Masiello's team mates from Bari last season were also being investigated by police over the possible manipulation of matches.
    Police said two of Masiello's friends who bet on match results had also been arrested. The three men are detained in prison in the southern city of Bari. They were all involved in match fixing generating "extremely high winnings", said the city's chief prosecutor Antonio Laudati.
    Laudati said investigations suggested a total of five matches had been manipulated during both the 2010-2011 and 2009-2010 seasons.
    Italian media have focused mainly on a Serie A game between local rivals Bari and Lecce in May last year in which Bari, now in the Italian Serie B second division, lost 2-0 with Masiello scoring an own goal in the 80th minute.
    Bari had already been relegated by the time the match was played.
    Laudati said other possibly fixed matches, all involving Bari, were a 4-0 away win against Bologna, also in May 2011, a 1-0 defeat at Cesena in April 2011 and a 3-3 draw at Udinese and a 3-0 victory at home to Genoa, both in May 2010.
    Masiello's lawyer described the player as 'relatively serene', despite media reports that he was 'crying all the time'.
    "He is tired, a bit subdued but relatively serene," lawyer Francesco Rotunno said after visiting Masiello in prison on Wednesday (April 4).
    Italians in the street seemed disconcerted but unsurprised by the news of the investigation, the last of a long string.
    "I believe soccer has become, unfortunately, just a business," said Marco di Lucio, a Rome resident.
    "The mechanism of star players and competition among them brings this kind of degeneration. We need to re-take soccer to its appropriate role: a pleasant sport that people go and watch," Di Lucio added.
    "The fact that we have plenty of scandals and empty stadiums says a lot about the state of things in soccer now. But I think it also mirrors a more general crisis in the country," Di Lucio said.
    "I am sure this is not the end of it. There will be more and more (scandals). This is just the beginning. It's disgusting," said pensioner Domenico Agnesi.
    "All malfunctions like this perfectly reflect politics. If our politicians, if our country were more honest then every one, even the lowest paid, would be honest," commented another Rome resident, Alessandro.
    In June last year, the Interior Ministry set up a special match-fixing task force in response to a number of high-profile cases.
    Former Atalanta captain and Italy midfielder Cristiano Doni was banned for three-and-a-half years in August for his part in the 'Calcioscommesse' match-fixing and betting scandal involving Serie B matches last season.
    Atalanta, promoted from Serie B, were deducted six points in the top flight this season as a result of the affair.
    Former Lazio and Italy striker Giuseppe Signori was banned for five years and 15 other players were banned for between one and five years for their part in the same scandal.
    Mighty Juventus were demoted to Serie B in 2006 because of match-fixing and are only now challenging for the Italian title again.
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