Three Italian clubs, Lazio, Genoa and Lecce, along with eight players, one of which is Lazio captain Stefan Mauri, will all face charges related to the alleged match-fixing of two Serie A games in 2011.
Mauri and his eight conspirators – Mario Cassano, Carlo Gervasoni, Omar Milanetto, Alessandro Zamperini, Massimiliano Benassi, Antonio Rosati and Stefano Ferrario – all face charges of sporting fraud, while Mauri and Zamperini face two additional charges for violating the Code of Sports Justice’s principles of loyalty, fairness and integrity, and a ban on betting.
The trial is set for July 24th and if found guilty the players face bans while the clubs could be deducted points. Mauri could be in line for the steepest punishment, with prosecutor Stefano Palazzi reportedly set to ask for the 33 year old to be suspended for five years.
This is the third consecutive off-season that the Italian Football Federation is set to hand out point deductions. Since mid 2011, at least 50 people in Italy have been arrested for match fixing.
The incident at issue appears to stem from Mauri & Co.’s attempt to fix the last two matches of the 2010-11 Serie A season in order to earn Lazio a spot in the Champions League. Here’s how the situation played out.
After losing three consecutive matches – a 1-2 defeat at Inter Milan, a 0-1 home loss to Juventus and a 1-2 loss at Udinese – Lazio’s dreams of playing in the 2011-12 Champions League were fading fast.
With two matches remaining in the season – against Genoa on May 14, 2011 and Lecce on May 22, 2011 – Lazio needed to collect all six points if they were to have a chance at qualifying for Europe’s top competition. With the fixes allegedly in place, Lazio defeated both Genoa and Lecce by scores of 4-2.
What Lazio could not control, however, was how the other Serie A side vying for a Champions League birth, Udinese, would fair in those final two weeks. In their penultimate match the Biancocelesti beat Chievo Verona 2-0.
In their final contest, against that year’s Serie A Champions AC Milan, Antonio di Natale & Co. managed an incredible 0-0 draw. That point was enough to put Udinese into 4th place, edging out 5th place Lazio (who were equal on league points with 66) by mere goal differential.
Just another reminder that even in football, crime never pays.
