2006/2007 Season:

Serie A: Ascoli, Atalanta, Cagliari, Catania, Chievo, Empoli, Inter, Lecce, Livorno, Messina, Milan (-15pts), Palermo, Parma, Reggina, Roma, Sampdoria, Siena, Torino, Treviso, Udinese.

Serie B: Albinoleffe, Arezzo, Bari, Bologna, Brescia, Cesena, Crotone, Fiorentina (-12pts), Frosinone, Genoa, Juventus (-30pts), Lazio (-7pts), Mantova, Modena, Napoli, Pescara, Piacenza, Rimini, Spezia, Triestina, Verona, Vicenza.

Reuters

That's a real SCANDAL!!!

Canna is better the anyone
Buffon, nothing to say..
Zambrotta, awesome.. can play on both side..

maybe not future-proof, but they can guarantee a really strong defense.

and Berlusconi owns the media.. tv, newspapers

here's an interesting article..

Comment: Throwing Out Baby With The Dirty Bath-Water

Gavino Nieddu assesses the punishments handed down in the match-fixing trial and worries that the federation has cut off its nose to spite its face...

Just when I think people could not get any stupider, the "Gazzetta Delle Stupidagine" releases another eye-rolling cover story that confirms that intelligence is in a downward spiral.

Congratulations Italia, as you sit on top of the world you've managed to self-destruct again. I suppose it is in Italian nature. Like the mighty Ancient Romans did, the neo-Romans have a habit of reaching the heights and falling on their face by their own hands. It hurts to say it, but this time it will look good on them. They should have known better.

In 1982 Italy claimed their 3rd World Cup and sat on top of the football world. It too took place in the midst of a scandal that saw Lazio and Milan relegated to Serie B. What was accomplished? Serie A wound up with lesser quality teams replacing giants. Star players left. Other squads elsewhere in Europe benefited from an open market of players, and less competition. Even the teams that remained in Italy's top flight suffered from lack of competition as rival squads were no longer there and in their place, mediocre lower tier teams played. The quality of the game was not elevated, ratings and attendance dropped and in consequence revenues dropped as well. Lo and behold, years later corruption cropped up again. Why? The system was never fixed. Teams were just thrown out and the ones that remained kept up the cheating.

Is it any wonder that with this sudden drop in quality in Italy it took almost a decade to bring Italy back to competitive standards? It took 7 years for Italy to lay claim to a UEFA Cup (Napoli). In the '80s Italy claimed 1 Cup Winners' Cup (Juventus). Italy did win 2 Champions' League titles in the '80s (Juventus '85/Milan '89) but by then Milan had had 7 years to rebuild. That's a big difference from the 13 European trophies claimed by Italian teams in the '90s. The worst affected, however, was our National Team. Does anyone remember how Italy did in Euro 84 in France? Probably not, since they weren't there after failing to qualify. They got the boot early in the '86 World Cup in Mexico after being automatic qualifiers at the hands of France. By '88 in Germany they were looking better but still got hammered by the Soviets in the Euro Cup. It wasn't until Italia '90 that Italy were back to being the football powerhouse they used to be. Are we ready to go through all that again? This time might be worse. This time it's not 2 squads, it's 3.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think they should have turned a blind eye. The guilty individuals certainly should have been punished. The system needs significant strengthening as well. To throw out 3 massive squads however is detrimental. The way in which everything took place makes one think that it almost had more to do with overthrowing a major football powerhouse that had simply become too dominant than fixing a faulty system. The sheer imbalance of the punishments certainly points to that motive. So does the imbalance of the investigation. Why were so many teams not investigated after having their phone calls intercepted revealing their active participation in this corrupt system? Inter's president was overheard calling the same individuals Moggi called and for the same purposes for example, yet Inter were not further investigated. Roma's elaborate gift-giving to referees surfaced as well; still no investigation. Milan's system (which paralleled Moggi's) was unveiled yet they remained in Serie A. Milan's indirect sponsorship of Collina through OPEL was also revealed, yet no action was taken. A long list of other teams ranging from Serie A to C were also named and never dealt with. Why the double standards?

Only the big wigs of the Italian system will ever really know. The end result is that a few Italian teams will have to rebuild from the guillotine they are being led to (barring what I fear will be futile appeals). The system hasn't changed or been reinforced and in a little time we will likely have another scandal on our hands. Interest, ratings, attendance, and revenues will all drop while other leagues and non-Italian teams reap the benefits. History is set to repeat itself, and we the Italian football fans are the ones who will suffer the most.

Maybe if everyone saw it in this light, certain bloodthirsty Italian fans would realize that they have very little to celebrate. Consequences should never outweigh benefits. I fear this time they will. I just hope for all our sakes that it doesn't take 8 years to rebuild again.

Gavino Nieddu

Source: http://www.goal.com/en/articolo.aspx?contenutoId=94677

here's the real scandal..

The FIGC are set to launch an investigation after former referee Massimo De Santis accused Inter of tailing him in 2002.

The former official, who was handed a four-year ban because of his involvement in the Calciopoli scandal, also accused the Via Durini outfit of tapping his phone, after another scandal broke out in the past few days in Italy revealing hundreds of cases of phone interceptions by Telecom Italia.

"When I first learned about this operation by Massimo Moratti I was disgusted, even if I know that can be a strong word to use," said De Santis in a television interview.

"I am paying for something that I didn't do, I have always stated my innocence and to know today what was happening a few years ago really makes me sick.

"Why were they following me? I think they maybe wanted to blackmail me."

It is reported that Inter decided to have De Santis followed by a private investigator after former referee Danilo Nucini informed the late Inter chief Giacinto Facchetti of suspicious relations between Luciano Moggi and De Santis.

The investigation however brought to no firm results and the file was closed seeing as "there were no anomalies in De Santis' way of life."

If the accusations prove to be true, Inter could risk a fine for violating the sporting code, but there would be no consequences for the team itself in terms of points deductions.

Inter owner Moratti reacted immediately, saying that his club has nothing to do with the interceptions despite Telecom Italia being one of its shareholders.

"He's got some cheek to say this kind of things - Inter has no involvement in this issue," said the oil tycoon to La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I think De Santis' words are very serious, he cannot ignore the damage he is causing us by making these statements."

Coach Roberto Mancini backed up Moratti's comments, stating: "He's disgusted? Myself and many others have been disgusted for months and we shall be so for the rest of our lives."

--
Guido Rossi(ex-Inter member, ex-FIGC commish, new Telecom Prez) , Moratti(Inter owner, Telecom shareholder), Tronchetti(ex-Telecom Prez, Inter shareholder), Buora(Inter VP, Telecom board, Pirelli)

http://www.inter.it/en/societa/organigramma.html
http://www.telecomitalia.com/cgi-bin/tipor...TIconsiglio.jsp

They already done the damage. Juve is B. Well done Inter

This post has been edited by fariz: Sep 26 2006, 10:22 AM

Moggi attacks Rossi
Wednesday 27 September, 2006

Luciano Moggi has hit out at former Federal Commissioner Guido Rossi, accusing him of acting on Inter's behalf during the Calciopoli investigation.

Juventus' former director general was handed a five-year ban in the aftermath of the summer match-fixing scandal and believes that Rossi intentionally wanted to ruin him and the Bianconeri.

"Inter, Telecom Italia, Massimo Moratti, Marco Tronchetti Provera and Rossi are all partners in the same things - that is Telecom Italia and Inter," Moggi said on Italian television last night.

"Rossi did what he had to do and then returned to his home base at Telecom," added Moggi, referring to Rossi's new appointment at the head of Telecom Italia, which forced him to resign from his post at the FIGC last week.

"The revelations of the past few days confirm what I have been saying for months when I referred to industrial espionage.

"I once again deny the legitimacy of the phone interceptions. Often there are words missing and in other print-outs there are extra words - how can we trust this kind of information?

"That is why I decided to give Paolo Bergamo some foreign mobile phone cards, I was aware that everyone knew what I was doing and had to somehow protect myself.

"Juventus was hit in a moment of weakness following the death of Gianni and Umberto Agnelli - had they been alive these things would have never happened."

The Old Lady of Italian football currently resides in Serie B with a 17-point deduction, although they are hoping to have that reduced at their CONI hearing next month.

Italian fixing scandal goes down to the wire

SAMUEL JOHNSON FAMOUSLY OPINED that "it is is better to suffer wrong than to do it and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust". Johnson would have a hard time selling his argument in Italian football.

You may have thought that last spring's influence-peddling scandal was the final instalment in Serie A's cloak-and-dagger chicanery. Think again. Last week, it emerged that employees of Telecom, Italy's equivalent of BT, were illegally wire-tapping hundreds of Italian public figures, including businessmen, politicians, actors and footballers.

At the heart of the inquiry is Giuliano Tavaroli, Telecom's chief of security. According to magistrates, Tavaroli teamed up with Emanuele Cipriani, a private investigator whose company is registered in London, to sell the transcripts of the phone calls. They were also allegedly a one-stop surveillance shop: for a fee, Cipriani could arrange to have someone followed and even obtain bank records via his contacts in the Italian secret service.

The idea was simple: people who are famous, rich or powerful occasionally have skeletons in their closet. You may discover that someone is dodging his taxes or associating with criminals; or that he cheats on his wife or enjoys pornography in industrial quantities. Whatever the case, by invading their privacy you can gather sensitive information that can be used either to blackmail them or, if leaked to the press, damage their reputation.

The whole affair intersects neatly with the scandal that resulted in Juventus being relegated to Serie B and AC Milan, Fiorentina, Reggina and Lazio being slapped with hefty points penalties. Most of the evidence in the case was gathered via wiretaps.

And here is where the conspiracy theorists went to town. One club benefited more than any other from the scandal: Inter Milan. They were assigned last season's scudetto - after Juventus were stripped of the title - and their rivals' punishments forced them to sell players and weaken their squads.

Telecom's majority shareholder, Marco Tronchetti Provera, holds a 13.9 per cent stake in Inter and investigators found that Cipriani had invoiced Inter for services rendered. Massimo Moratti, the owner of Inter, is scheduled to be heard by the Italian FA on this matter next week. One unnamed Telecom employeee told magistrates that Adamo Bove, Tavaroli's right-hand man at Telecom, asked him to log the phone calls of a number of officials at Juventus and the Italian FA, as well as various referees. Bove committed suicide last July.

Some of the conspiracy theorists maintain that the summer's scandal - in which Juventus and other clubs were found to have colluded with high-ranking officials at the Italian FA to influence the selection and performance of referees - was orchestrated by Inter, using their influence over Telecom and their access to phone records.

"Right now it's hard for me to be objective," Didier Deschamps, the Juventus manager, said. "So all I'm going to say is that, until a few weeks ago, people thought we were the only club who were rotten to the core. Now these same people have changed their mind and they're starting to believe that everything that went on this summer was an organised and concerted effort to bring us down."

One of the most staggering aspects of the affair emerged on Friday, when it was alleged that Tavaroli and Cipriani were spying on Tronchetti Provera, Telecom's chairman, as well, which would suggest that he was not involved, thereby weakening the Inter link.

And as far as the invoice to the club, Inter claim that it was surveillance work carried out on Christian Vieri, the striker, whom they suspected was spending too much time in various nightclubs.

Either way, none of this changes the fact that the clubs punished in the scandal were found guilty based on wire-tap evidence, which is largely indisputable. True, it does matter how evidence is obtained, but the wire-taps that condemned Juventus and others were legally obtained by magistrates.

That said, the allegation that Inter were spying on their players is unsettling. Juxtapose the amount of money in football and the relatively paltry wages of phone company employees and the opportunity for wrongdoing is tempting.


By Gabriele Marcotti

New revelation rocks Inter
Monday 2 October, 2006

Inter's position in the most recent telephone interception scandal has become more critical after the confession of a former Telecom manager.

The FIGC launched a new investigation, which is being led by the head of the Investigation Office Francesco Saverio Borrelli, after former referee Massimo De Santis accused Inter of tailing him as well as tapping his phone in 2002, in the aftermath of the new scandal revealing hundreds of cases of phone interceptions by Telecom Italia.

According to the Italian Press, the ex-Telecom Italia security boss Giuliano Tavaroli confessed from prison that the he did spy on De Santis and that this activity was at least in part commissioned by the Nerazzurri, as confirmed by his lawyer.

"That is partially true. The activity was commissioned by the Inter management and was taken care of in part by Tavaroli, in part by the private investigator Emanuele Cipriani," said Massimo Dinoia after speaking to his client in the Voghera prison.

"The investigation was mainly aimed at acquiring information on the referee's properties and was conducted between 2002 and 2003."

Nerazzurri owner Massimo Moratti reacted immediately to the accusations, saying that his club had nothing to do with the interceptions despite Telecom being one of its shareholders.

He is scheduled to meet Borrelli on Tuesday to clarify his position, while De Santis, who declared that he would claim damages, will be heard on Monday.

Inter could risk a fine for violating the sporting code if the accusations prove to be true, but at the time being there is no reason to believe that there would be consequences for the team itself in terms of points deductions.

Source: Football Italia/Channel 4



---
ptfff, only fine!??! they should be thrown to Serie Z (if it exist)

SERIE A AND B SUSPENDED

The Serie A and B Championships have been suspended after the death of a policeman in the Catania riots.

FIGC President Luca Pancalli made the announcement this evening. "We will immediately set up a permanent round table commission to discuss the situation between sport and politics. It's not possible to carry on like this. If this is football, then I'm stopping everything."

The Sicilian derby, eventually won 2-1 by Palermo this evening, had been interrupted after 57 minutes due to crowd trouble when tear gas floated on to the pitch.

While play resumed and the final whistle sanctioned the Rosanero's victory, the problems intensified outside the Stadio Massimino.

A large group of Catania supporters engaged in a full-scale riot with the police and one officer, 38-year-old Filippo Raciti, was killed when struck in the face by a homemade bomb.

It's now reported that hundreds of people have been rushed to the local hospital with injuries, although none are thought to be life threatening.

This tragic incident comes just a week after Ermanno Licursi, director of Calabrian amateur side Sanmartinese, was killed in a fight with opposition players after the final whistle of a Serie D game against Cancellese.

The Amateur League was suspended and this latest shameful scenario has pushed the FIGC to take similar action with Serie A, B, C and the Youth Championships.

- Football Italia

calcio resumes this weekend

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/feb7p.html

Italy Squad Number

1 Buffon
2 Panucci
3 Grosso
4 Chiellini
5 Cannavaro
6 Barzagli
7 Del Piero
8 Gattuso
9 Toni
10 De Rossi
11 Di Natale
12 Borriello
13 Ambrosini
14 Amelia
15 Quagliarella
16 Camoranesi
17 De Sanctis
18 Cassano
19 Zambrotta
20 Perrotta
21 Pirlo
22 Aquilani
23 Materazzi

Canna ruled out of Euro
Monday 2 June, 2008

Fabio Cannavaro will miss Euro 2008 and will be replaced by Fiorentina’s Alessandro Gamberini.

Disaster struck during Italy’s first pre-tournament training session in Austria when skipper Canna remained grounded after a 50-50 with Giorgio Chiellini during a mini-game.

Fears grew as an obviously distressed Cannavaro had to be carried off Admira Wacker’s ground on a stretcher.

While it will take two days to ascertain the exact extent of the problem, reports from the hospital are grim.

It is being suggested that Cannavaro has seriously damaged his left ankle, possibly tearing two ligaments and may require surgery.

But whatever the nature of the injury, Italy will have to face Euro 2008 without their captain and will look for a replacement.

After a superb campaign with Fiorentina, Gamberini was disappointed not to have made Roberto Donadoni’s squad for the tournament, but he may now get his chance.







This post has been edited by fariz: Jun 3 2008, 06:44 AM

since I'm lazy, I'll just copy-pasta

Casiraghi proud after opener

Pierluigi Casiraghi was ecstatic after his Italy side thrashed Honduras 3-0 in their Olympic opener.

The Azzurri weren’t expected to struggle against the Central American minnows and they eased to victory.

Juventus youngster Sebastian Giovinco was the outstanding player but Giuseppe Rossi and Robert Acquafresca also found the net from the penalty spot.

“Obviously I am extremely happy,” Casiraghi enthused. “Our adventure has got off the best possible start.

“I just hope that all the games go like this. It took some magic from Giovinco with that 20-yard blast to break the deadlock. That lad can go a long way.

“But the credit needs to go to the whole squad because this is an excellent Italy side.”

Honduras boss Gilberto Yearwood was disappointed with the outcome and feels his men could have made more of a fight of it.

“If you lose concentration and lose the ball then you lose the game,” Yearwood moaned.

“Our heads went down after we conceded the first goal and we seemed to give up when Italy scored immediately afterwards with the penalty.”

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/aug7n.html

Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9e9x6JzKUs