Italian match-fixing, offices & Lazio president's home searched
The Lazio president, Claudio Lotito, is under investigation for using 'mechanism of intimidation'. Police searched the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) offices in Rome on Wednesday in relation to a Naples probe into alleged attempted extortion.
The investigation started when the recording of a phone call was handed to the police by Pino Iodice, director of sport for third-tier side Ischia Calcio. The alleged offences concern alleged threats over federation funding granted to soccer clubs.
Lotito, who is also chairman of Serie B Salernitana, had his house seached was also searched by Naples investigators, who also searched premises linked to FIGC President Carlo Tavecchio and Mario Macalli, the president of Italy's third tier, Lega Pro.
Neither Tavecchio or Macalli are under investigation but Iodice claims he was intimidated by Lotito and released a secret recording of the conversation. In that conversation, Lotito said Serie A chief Maurizio Beretta decided nothing in Italian football and suggested small clubs should not get promotion to the top flight.
Lotito said Carpi were "not worth a cent" and said that broadcasters may refuse to pay for TV rights if they or other unfashionable clubs such as Frosinone or Latina were promoted.
In a separate investigation police in Italy have made 17 arrests as part of a betting-related match-fixing investigation. One of the games is the Savona vs Terano match that led to Terano being promoted.
Terano secured promotion from Lega Pro B with victory over Savona 2-0 away from home. News agency ANSA report that investigators in Catanzaro believe £21,759 (US$33,709 - AUS$43,604 - €30,000) was paid to fix the result.
Terano club president Luciano Campitelli insisted they were false allegations and expects the side to take it's place in Serie B, one step away from the top league in Italy.
In addition to the 17 arrested there are a further 5 under suspicion and have had their houses searched. They include 59-year-old Campitelli himself, 47-year-old Terano sporting director Marcello Di Giuseppe and 52-year-old Savona director Marco Barghigiani.
The beautiful game is all about money, it has been corrupted but when you have such a corrupt world body like FIFA almost throwing it in peoples faces and then trying to pretend it has nothong to do with them it's hardly surprising.
After South Africa allegedly paid bribes 'worth £6.5 million' to FIFA - the man who authorised what the FBI say in a bribe still claims he has done nothing wrong. It's not up to him where the money comes from or where it goes, he just authorises it. This was allegedly for Jack Warner.
Then Ireland FA chief executive John Delaney says he got paid off to not protest about his team getting dumped out of 2010 World Cup qualifying by the infamous Thierry Henry handball.
The bundles of cash in suitcases in a Paris hotel room for a World Cup vote was startling but not surprising to the everyday fan.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement when FIFA corruption was at last acted upon that it had gone on for two generations.
According to Jack Warner's indictment for an incident where he is alleged to have sent someone to pick up £25,000 (US$40,000 - AUS$51,756 - €35,594) in cash in an envelope he said:.
That tells us all we need to know about FIFA officials. It's no good changing a few at the top, you'll have to have major changes in the way things are decided. The individuals in the various football bodies that control football are still in place. Why does the whole of FIFA have to vote on where a World Cup takes place when the vast majority of them are not even there?
Corruption is rife in our game, well it's not our game now is it.
The investigation started when the recording of a phone call was handed to the police by Pino Iodice, director of sport for third-tier side Ischia Calcio. The alleged offences concern alleged threats over federation funding granted to soccer clubs.
Lotito, who is also chairman of Serie B Salernitana, had his house seached was also searched by Naples investigators, who also searched premises linked to FIGC President Carlo Tavecchio and Mario Macalli, the president of Italy's third tier, Lega Pro.
Neither Tavecchio or Macalli are under investigation but Iodice claims he was intimidated by Lotito and released a secret recording of the conversation. In that conversation, Lotito said Serie A chief Maurizio Beretta decided nothing in Italian football and suggested small clubs should not get promotion to the top flight.
Lotito said Carpi were "not worth a cent" and said that broadcasters may refuse to pay for TV rights if they or other unfashionable clubs such as Frosinone or Latina were promoted.
The UEFA Champions League was only set up to guarantee the top clubs revenue and to stop them forming their own breakaway league so they could play high revenue games against each other each season. That's why the payments are so high in comparison to the Europa League, they want to keep the rich clubs rich so they have an advantage and can maintain their monopoly. It's got nothing to do with football, it's all about money, TV revenue and the big clubs wanting most of it.
Lotito is suspected of intimidating many officials from clubs when it came to votes on decisions in order to gain greater power within the FIGC, the Serie A league and the lower leagues, investigation sources said on Wednesday.
In a separate investigation police in Italy have made 17 arrests as part of a betting-related match-fixing investigation. One of the games is the Savona vs Terano match that led to Terano being promoted.
Terano secured promotion from Lega Pro B with victory over Savona 2-0 away from home. News agency ANSA report that investigators in Catanzaro believe £21,759 (US$33,709 - AUS$43,604 - €30,000) was paid to fix the result.
Terano club president Luciano Campitelli insisted they were false allegations and expects the side to take it's place in Serie B, one step away from the top league in Italy.
"I'm more than comfortable. I feel calm, the truth will out. I'm continuing to prepare the team for Serie B, that's all I'm interested in at the moment."
In addition to the 17 arrested there are a further 5 under suspicion and have had their houses searched. They include 59-year-old Campitelli himself, 47-year-old Terano sporting director Marcello Di Giuseppe and 52-year-old Savona director Marco Barghigiani.
The beautiful game is all about money, it has been corrupted but when you have such a corrupt world body like FIFA almost throwing it in peoples faces and then trying to pretend it has nothong to do with them it's hardly surprising.
After South Africa allegedly paid bribes 'worth £6.5 million' to FIFA - the man who authorised what the FBI say in a bribe still claims he has done nothing wrong. It's not up to him where the money comes from or where it goes, he just authorises it. This was allegedly for Jack Warner.
Then Ireland FA chief executive John Delaney says he got paid off to not protest about his team getting dumped out of 2010 World Cup qualifying by the infamous Thierry Henry handball.
The bundles of cash in suitcases in a Paris hotel room for a World Cup vote was startling but not surprising to the everyday fan.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement when FIFA corruption was at last acted upon that it had gone on for two generations.
“The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic and deep-rooted, both abroad and here in the United States. It spans at least two generations of soccer officials.”
According to Jack Warner's indictment for an incident where he is alleged to have sent someone to pick up £25,000 (US$40,000 - AUS$51,756 - €35,594) in cash in an envelope he said:.
“There are some people here who think they are more pious than thou. If you’re pious, open a church, friends. Our business is our business.”
That tells us all we need to know about FIFA officials. It's no good changing a few at the top, you'll have to have major changes in the way things are decided. The individuals in the various football bodies that control football are still in place. Why does the whole of FIFA have to vote on where a World Cup takes place when the vast majority of them are not even there?
Corruption is rife in our game, well it's not our game now is it.
Post a Comment