Italian FF rocked by match-fixing

The scandal-hounded Italian Football Federation, rocked by match-fixing allegations, was placed under emergency administration Tuesday. The country’s national Olympic committee (CONI) put Guido Rossi, a the country’s former head stock market regulator, in charge of the federation with a six-month renewable mandate.
 
“I wish him good luck, he will need it,” CONI president Gianni Petrucci said. “Football, our sport, needs to regain credibility.”
 
Federation president Franco Carraro and his vice-president Innocenzo Mazzini resigned last week.
 
Rossi, 75, said he planned to introduce new regulations to help clean up Italian soccer.
 
“We need rules that will be a deterrent and with serious sanctions,” Rossi said.
 
Magistrates in Naples probing telephone taps and looking into suspicions of match-fixing have 41 people under investigation. Italian champions Juventus are at the centre of the affair. Their entire board has resigned and the club could be stripped of titles and face relegation to Serie B if their officials are found guilty of attempting to influence the outcome of matches.
 
Juventus won their second successive Serie A title Sunday, the 29th in team history. AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina also have come under the scrutiny of investigators, along with referees, federation and club officials.
 
Rossi must conclude the federation’s probe soon because of the July 27 deadline for presenting UEFA with a list of clubs eligible for the lucrative Champions League and UEFA Cup is July 27.
 
“We need to be able to do that,” Rossi said when asked if the deadline would be met.
 
Former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi, whose intercepted telephone conversations triggered the scandal, was questioned by prosecutors in Rome Monday.
 
Investigators spoke to AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti, Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini, former referee Pierluigi Collina and Football League president Adriano Galliani Tuesday. None are under investigation, rather they are being interviewed as ‘people who may have knowledge of events.’
 
“I believe I answered in a prompt and exhaustive manner to the questions the magistrates put to me,” Galliani told the news agency ANSA.
 
Trading in Juventus shares was halted for a second day in a row after continuing to fall Tuesday. Juventus was suspended by the Milan exchange shortly after tumbling 10.19 percent to EUR 1.56 at the beginning of trade.