New manipulation scandal in Serie A

Rome - Several Serie A games are under investigation in a match-fixing probe on Italy's three professional football leagues.

Local media reported Tuesday that Skysport365, an Austrian betting agency, has signalled to Italian prosecutors unusually high bets on 15 games of the season that ended in May, about half of them in the top flight.

The La Repubblica paper quoted Skysport365 as saying that bets for millions of euros (dollars) were placed on the games.

'The bets did not stop even after we lowered the limit,' Skysport365 said. 'This makes us think that punters felt particularly safe.'

Bets on the same games appeared to switch to Asian agencies which also blocked or limited them.

Investigators were trying to verify some tapped telephone calls where suspects appear to have mentioned a 2-2 draw between Fiorentina and Roma, the Lecce-Cagliari game which ended in a 3-3 draw, and Genoa's 4-2 win against Lecce.

The three Serie A games were played in March and April.

A match between Inter Milan and Chievo was also mentioned along with other Serie A games played by Lazio, Napoli and Bologna.

All the teams have denied any involvement.

The investigation began six months ago in Cremona, where the local lower-division team alerted the police after five of their players appeared to have been given a sleeping drug before a game.

Cremona prosecutors were continuing the interrogation of people arrested last week. Among them was former international striker Giuseppe Signori, who was placed under house arrest, while 15 other people were detained.

Retired defender Stefano Bettarini, Atalanta captain Cristiano Doni and some lower-division players were being investigated with about 30 other people.

Atalanta and Siena, which were promoted to the Serie A in May, are also under investigation.

Investigators said that the scheme appears to involve go-betweens in charge of contacting players, who received money to obtain a certain result on the pitch.

Also involved were several in-the-know punters and gangs who seemed to use fixed games for money-laundering bets worth hundreds of thousand of euros.

Prosecutors in Naples, meanwhile, were probing a gang of the local crime organization Camorra, who appear to have laundered money through some betting agencies they controlled.

Sports judges from the Italian football federation (FIGC) on Tuesday were expecting to receive the papers from public prosecutors to begin their own investigation.

Brigate Rossonere wrote:Moratti trying to win some more titles in the courtroom. LULZ

halamadrid2 wrote:one is being investigated iirc

the game ibra scored an own goal in

Brigate Rossonere wrote:

halamadrid2 wrote:one is being investigated iirc

the game ibra scored an own goal in

Sauce?

CroInter wrote:Few games that are in question

Genoa-Roma 4:3
Fiorentina-Roma 2:2
Genoa-Lecce 4:2
Lecce-Cagliari 3:3


This was very wierd game




More and more shit is being raveled, im affraid we might have new big scandal in Italy and deduction of points and throwings in Seria B

Evey time i saw like 1.3 coef. on x in Seria A(which you can only see in Italy) i though no way thats fixed, guess i was maybe wrong, just hoping Inter isn't involved, and hoping Milan is, paper scudetti here we come

The_ItalianFool wrote:

CroInter wrote:Few games that are in question

Genoa-Roma 4:3
Fiorentina-Roma 2:2
Genoa-Lecce 4:2
Lecce-Cagliari 3:3


This was very wierd game




More and more shit is being raveled, im affraid we might have new big scandal in Italy and deduction of points and throwings in Seria B

Evey time i saw like 1.3 coef. on x in Seria A(which you can only see in Italy) i though no way thats fixed, guess i was maybe wrong, just hoping Inter isn't involved, and hoping Milan is, paper scudetti here we come

What was so weird about this game? I just watched the highlights and there were no dubious calls or anything... :?:

Milanfan7 wrote: It's a shame that a few names are giving the whole league a bad name.

cyberman wrote:anyone surprised anymore?

Brigate Rossonere wrote:

cyberman wrote:anyone surprised anymore?

I definitely am, after the harsh punishments for not only the clubs but the personnel involved in Calciopoli I thought that would definitely be the last of it...