Saturday, July 29, 2006

Italian Soccor Penalties Significantly Reduced. Further Reductions Sought Through Civil Litigation

The ANNOTICO Report

 

Appeal verdicts Relegate Only "Juventus" to Series B, while Fiorentina and Lazio, are reinstated to Series A,

while those three plus Milan have "Points" docked Reduced significantly, while "Fines" were increased.

 

Both Juventus and Fiorentina threaten further Civil legal action to further reduce Penalties.

 

Appeal verdicts

Fiorentina  Reprieved of relegation to Serie B but will be docked 19 points in this season's Serie A.
Lazio  Reprieved of relegation to Serie B but will be docked 11 points in this season's Serie A.
Juventus  Remain relegated to Serie B but points deduction cut from 30 to 17 this season.
Milan  Remain, as before, in Serie A but points deficit is reduced from 15 to eight.

 

 

ITALIANS BREATHE SIGH OF RELIF AFTER REPRIEVE 

 

Buzzle.com

The Guardian, UK

July 25, 2006

 

Soccer: Fiorentina and Lazio are restored to Serie A while Milan will play in Europe and the points deduction has been slashed for Juventus.

 

Juventus and the other Italian Serie A sides found guilty of taking part in a vast match-fixing ring last night had their sentences significantly lightened.

An appeals panel here ruled that the Turin club at the centre of the most explosive scandal in Italy's footballing history should be relegated to Serie B, as decided earlier this month, but with barely half the 30-points handicap originally imposed for the coming season.

Juve are still stripped of the Serie A titles they won in the past two seasons, will have to play three matches at a neutral venue and have been fined B?120,000 (#85,000). But the sports judges' reduction in the points handicap means that Juventus could be back in the top division by the start of the 2007-08 season.

The important news for Silvio Berlusconi's side Milan, who were not facing relegation from Serie A, is that they are back in the Champions League in the coming season, albeit in the preliminary round. ! The threatened docking of 44 points from last season, which would have removed Milan from the qualifying places for Europe, was cut to 30.

With the various points penalties and Juve's relegation, Internazionale come out on top of last season's standings but it is not yet clear if the title will be awarded to them as it may be left unallocated.

Italy's match-fixing scandal sprang from criminal inquiries that are still in progress. In the trial held under sports law, Juventus's former general manager Luciano Moggi and other club executives were found guilty of conspiring with referees and linesmen to rig games during the 2004-05 season. The five-year bans from football imposed on Moggi and his fellow former Juve board member Antonio Giraudo were both upheld yesterday.

"For Juventus and its managers it's an absolutely unsatisfactory sentence," Moggi's lawyer told reporters.

The relegations of Fiorentina and Lazio were revoked but penalties of 30 po! ints each from last season's table means neither is in Europe next season. The two sides will remain in Serie A but will start with hefty handicaps of 19 and 11 points respectively which will mean both start the season under the shadow of relegation. Italy's Uefa Cup places will instead be taken by Palermo, Livorno and Parma, the latter finishing a single point ahead of Fiorentina in the revised table.

Milan's billionaire owner Berlusconi, the country's former prime minister, was said to be still unhappy despite the softening of the penalties. "I called Berlusconi to have confirmation we were in the Champions League and he told me that, in his judgment, injustice remains because Milan didn't do anything," said Roberto Maroni, a former minister and a political ally of Berlusconi.

The news of the outcome of the appeals was greeted with wild cheering by Lazio fans outside the Rome hotel where the decisions were announced, happiness not entirely shared by the club'! s president Claudio Lotito, who had his own 3B=-year ban trimmed by a year while his B?10,000 fine was trebled. "I'm not satisfied at all. Lazio has not broken any rule," he said. "The fact that we will not be taking part in the Uefa Cup [for finishing sixth last season] is not in line with the truth."

Juventus said they would take further legal action after yesterday's decision. "We absolutely cannot accept this sentence," the chairman Giovanni Cobolli Gigli said on the club's website. "Worst of all, we have been given a penalty which seriously prejudices next season."

The Fiorentina owner Diego Della Valle also threatened further legal action in the civil courts. "It's the first step. We haven't done anything and we will go down every avenue to clear our name," said Della Valle, who had his own four-year ban trimmed by three months but his initial B?30,000 fine almost doubled. "Now we will go to all the courts to remove any shadow of guilt and give back what ! they have taken from us."

 

 

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