ITALY: SOCCER/FOOTBALL - Juventus win league but might lose the title if found guilty of match-fixing accusations that are shaking Italian football.

Record ID: 697155

  • Title: ITALY: SOCCER/FOOTBALL - Juventus win league but might lose the title if found guilty of match-fixing accusations that are shaking Italian football.
  • Date: 15th May 2006
  • Summary: CLOSE UP NEWSPAPER HEADLINES ON SOCCER SCANDAL; NEWSPAPER FRONT PAGE WITH IMAGE OF FORMER JUVENTUS MANAGER LUCIANO MOGGI READING 'GAME OVER'; NEWSPAPER HEDLINE READING 'ACCUSATION OF KIDNAPPING'; NEWSPAPER HEADLINE READING 'FAREWELL TITLE' (5 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 30th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAEMNY40IJ28NPYUS3ZCS3E8RNT
  • Story Text: Juventus won their 29th Italian league title with a 2-0 final round victory over Reggina on Sunday (May 14) assuring them of their second successive 'scudetto'.
    Fabio Capello's side finished the season three points ahead of second-placed AC Milan who won 2-1 at home to AS Roma.
    Fiorentina's 2-0 win over Chievo assured the Florence club of fourth place and a spot in the qualifying round of next season's Champions League along with third-placed Inter Milan.
    Juve and Milan will go straight into the group stage of the Champions League - unless ongoing match-fixing investigations result in a change to the final league table.
    Champions Juve are facing a series of investigations into allegations of match-fixing and if they are found guilty they could be stripped of their last two titles and demoted to Serie B.
    The scandal which has rocked Italian football has focused on telephone intercepts from last season featuring discussions about refereeing appointments between Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi and Football Federation officials.
    At stadiums across Italy, fans made their feelings on the affair known with sarcastic slogans and attacks on Juventus and the Federation displayed on banners.
    "I am sad because they destroyed the image of Juventus, they destroyed a team", said a supporter about Juventus' managers, while celebrating victory in Turin.
    "Of course I'm happy we have won. We are always happy of our team, no matter what will happen, even if we will demoted we will always be with the team, we will never forsake Juventus," said another fan.
    "They ruined football, even if I am a Juventus fan, Juventus did not need this kind of help, Juventus would have won anyway", added a fan in Turin.
    Just before kick-off, AC Milan owner and outgoing Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called for his club, who have finished second to Juve in the last two seasons, to be awarded the two titles.
    Luciano Moggi said on Sunday he was resigning from his post so that he could defend himself from accusations at the heart of a scandal which has rocked Italian soccer.
    In the phone calls Moggi discussed refereeing appointments with senior Football Federation officials during the 2004-05 season and also bragged of locking a referee in the changing room after a game.
    Moggi is due to meet with public prosecutors in Rome on Monday (May 15) to face questions about the telephone taps and the role in the game of the company GEO World, an agency for nearly 200 players and coaches, which is run by his son Alessandro.
    Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini said on Sunday that recent Italian Serie A championships had been "fixed".
    Speaking on the final day of the season, Mancini was quoted by the Italian news agency ANSA as saying: "It is difficult to make an evaluation when you play in fixed championships, in fact it is impossible."
    A disappointed fan near Juve's Delle Alpi stadium said all club officials found guilty of improper conduct should be punished: "I think they should all go home, they should be sent to work, to dig the ground."
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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