The best game in the world, as Italian like to call football, is again at risk of being spoilt by a corruption scandal that echoes others unveiled in the past, according to dpa. Prosecutors in the northern town of Cremona opened the probe in November, alerted by the local lower-division club that five of their players appeared to have been given a sleeping drug before a game with Paganese. As the investigations spread to other towns, a ring of punters, corrupted players and various go-betweens has seemed to emerge, with possible links to high-level criminal organizations looking to launder money by legally betting on fixed games. The investigation flared up earlier this month, with 16 people arrested, about 30 placed under investigation and several games in the three professional leagues being probed. The big names were former international striker Giuseppe Signori, who is still under house arrest, while ex defender Stefano Bettarini and Atalanta captain Cristiano Doni are among the suspects. Stars like Roma's Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi, plus retired striker Christian Vieri, also surfaced in the spate of tapped telephone calls being sifted by prosecutors. It seems, however, that the people who mentioned them were trying to boast their ability to fix games. Interrogations are to continue next week, with prosecutors from the Italian football federation (FIGC) meeting police officials to acquire documents for a parallel investigation. FIGC have about a month to hand down verdicts before the calendars of the next season are issued. Match-fixing, however, is not new to Italian football, where a first case unveiled in 1927 resulted in the stripping of a Serie A title from Torino, at the time one of Italy's powerhouses. A manager from Torino gave Juventus defender Luigi Allemandi half of a large bribe to fix a game that would have allowed his side to secure the title. Torino won the city derby 2-1, but the manager refused to pay the rest of the bribe because Allemandi did his best in the game. A sports reporter who eavesdropped the resulting altercation in a Turin hotel triggered a debated investigation that led to a life ban for Allemandi, while the 1927 title remained unassigned. Allemandi was then pardoned for helping Italy win a bronze medal at the 1928 Olympic games. Things were worse in 1980, with top-flight AC Milan, Lazio, Bologna, Avellino and Perugia found guilty of game-fixing and illegal betting. In a memorable, televised police operation on a March afternoon, 13 players were arrested, some still wearing sweat-soaked jerseys, and 20 others charged. Milan and Lazio were relegated to the Serie B, several club managers were banned along with 21 players, including star striker Paolo Rossi, who ended his suspension in April 1982. Few weeks later, Rossi helped Italy win their third World Cup, scoring six goals at the event in Spain. A minor scandal in 2001 regarded the Italian Cup game Atalanta-Pistoiese. It was followed three years later by a larger scheme involving Modena, Sampdoria, Siena. Bettarini, then at Sampdoria, was banned for five months. The last major scandal, dating to 2006, had no financial aspects as club managers merely looked to win games with the assistance of obliging, or intimidated, referees. Powerhouse Juventus were hit hard, with relegation and two titles stripped, while Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina received point deductions. It could well be that the scandal this time around will have similar wide-ranging repercussions as Italy will have to come to terms that - once again - the best game in the world has been dragged through the mud.
