Match-fixing ban upheld for Juve coach
ROME (AFP) –
Italy’s football federation has upheld a 10-month ban for Juventus coach Antonio Conte, seen here on May 20, for failing to report suspicions of match-fixing at a previous club, Italian media reported.
Italy’s football federation (FIGC) on Wednesday announced that they have upheld a 10-month ban for Juventus coach Antonio Conte for failing to report suspicions of match-fixing at a previous club.
The Serie A club’s coach is one of the most high-profile figures caught up in a sweeping investigation that has shaken the Italian football world.
He was found guilty of not informing the authorities of possible corruption in two matches involving his former club Siena during the 2010-11 season.
Conte is now set to take his case to Italy’s sports arbitration tribunal (TNAS), a part of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI).
Juventus president Andrea Agnelli officially confirmed that the club would appeal against the decision.
“The verdict today confirms the worst suspicions,” he told the club website.
“I’ve watched the situation for months with growing incredulity and concern due to a kind of sporting justice that seems more and more like a witch-hunt.”
Conte’s suspension effectively leaves the defending Serie A champions without a manager just days before the start of the new season this weekend.
Massimo Carrera, a member of Juve’s technical staff and one of Conte’s former team-mates at the club, is expected to take charge of the first team on a temporary basis.
Carrera has already overseen the club’s pre-season matches, including a 4-2 win over Napoli in the Italian Super Cup in Beijing on August 11.
Juventus begin their title defence with a home game against Parma on Saturday.
The so-called ‘Calcioscommesse’ illegal betting scandal — which concerns mainly second-division clubs — has led to a wave of arrests across Italy and even saw searches at the Italian national squad’s hotel before Euro 2012.
The football federation panel did, however, show clemency to Conte’s assistant, Angelo Alessio, whose ban was reduced from eight months to six months after he had also been found guilty of the same offences at Siena.
The panel also affirmed their previous ruling that Juve players Leonardo Bonucci and Simone Pepe were cleared of wrong-doing.
Defenders Nicola Belmonte of Bari and Salvatore Masiello of Udinese, who were suspected of involvement in fixing a match between the two sides in May 2010, also saw their acquittals confirmed.
In the federation’s August 10 ruling, Serie B sides Lecce and Grosseto were demoted, while Lecce’s former president, Giovanni Semeraro, and ex-Grosseto president Piero Camilli were given five-year bans from the game.
On Wednesday, the federation rejected Lecce’s appeal against the demotion, but reinstated Grosseto in Serie B.
The football federation’s disciplinary committee has been investigating 13 football clubs in total in a scandal over match-fixing and illegal betting.
The investigation comes six years after a similar scandal deprived Juventus of two Serie A titles and saw them demoted to the second tier.