Shocker: Another match fixing scandal in Italy

By: Bob | October 9th, 2007

We all thought that Italian football had turned the corner, right? We thought that the match fixing scandals were a thing of the past and that Serie A would soon become known for its integrity. Actually, you would have to have been deluded to have thought that. Sadly, the only corner that has been turned is one that leads straight back to the depressing, match fixing headlines that have become all too familiar in Italian football.

The latest involves Lazio manager Delio Rossi, who has been outed by the Italian Soccer Federation (FICG) for trying to fix a match at the end of the 2006 season.

“The coach Delio Rossi, has been charged with trying to ask, without success, the Lazio president Lotito to start talks with Lecce directors in a bid to affect the technical performance of the squad ahead of a match on April 30, 2006,” a statement on the FIGC Web site (www.figc.it) said.

Those are all the details that are known at the moment but you know that inevitably more will surface and they probably won’t be pleasant.

Delio Rossi’s club was caught up in Calciopoli match fixing scandal back in 2006 and only escaped relegation after a successful appeal. Lazio were also sent to Serie B in 1980 after they were found guilty of betting on their own matches.

Will they receive a similar fate this time around? Stay tuned…

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Category: Serie A, World Football

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Mark

This article is so biased it's almost comical. As a poster above mentioned, this inquiry is an offshoot of the Calciopoli scandal and not "another depressing, match fixing headline". Funny thing was that the scandal itself was not even match-fixing...but this is the way it's been reported in the English press.

I'd stick to covering the MLS and EPL Bob, and let someone without a hate boner for Serie A cover Italy.
Venezian

Eh, isn't the article putting a slightly inaccurate spin on things to make more of a story? This refers to a supposed incident at the end of the 2005/06 season - already one of the 'tainted' seasons (if in fact Rossi did do anything wrong, which at present is not entirely clear). Which gives hope that maybe - just maybe - things have actually changed. If this was an incident that occurred after calciopoli and the measures taken to clean up the game, then it would be worrying. As it is, I think it is one of the final echoes of the calciopoli scandal itself.
Connor

I think it's sad that he was unsuccessful. I'd be emberassed to be ousted on an unsuccessful match-fixing request.
richard

It's just too bad they get caught.... the real match fixing occurs without anything being said... Do you think it's in a refs best interest to make a call agaisnt Juve, Inter or Milan? I don't.
Ian

I just can't take this league seriously anymore. They have ridiculous amounts of talent, but the teams and administration need a serious overhaul before the rest of Europe recognizes any Italian result as legitimate again.