Stop Italian football for 2-3 years, says Italian Prime minister

Professional football in Italy should be suspended for up to three years after a match-fixing row, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has suggested.

He said that the scandal had caused “profound sadness” across the country.

Mr Monti was speaking a day after a number of people – including Lazio’s captain Stefano Mauri – were arrested.

Juventus coach Antonio Conte, who just led the club to the Serie A title in his first season in charge, is among those being questioned by police.

Officers also visited Italy’s pre-Euro 2012 training camp to question left-back Domenico Criscito.

The Italian football federation later announced that Criscito, who is now at Zenit St Petersburg in Russia, would not be selected for Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine “in order to clear his name”.

“I wonder if it wouldn’t be a good idea to suspend the game for two or three years,” Mr Monti said on Tuesday.

“It’s particularly sad when a world which should be an expression of the highest values – sport, youth, competition, fairness, turns out to be a mass of foul play, falsehood and demagoguery.”