Several people have been arrested in Italy charged with match fixing, including Juventus coach and Lazio captain. Others at Italy's training camp, including defender Criscito, also being investigated. I regard this as a terrible betrayal of football fans...we see our teams win and lose games, play well and terrible, but we always assume it is all above board. Presumably as various teams are involved there may be a widespread conspiracy.
What makes this even more galling is that it comes so quickly after it was "stamped out for good" by the enquiry held there after the last round of match-fixing. Juve, along with Lazio and Fiorentina, were relegated last time they were found guilty. How about fans betraying other fans then? Did you see the Genoa "fans" who stopped a match and demanded that the players took off their shirts? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luJlJkaJ0tI
The only way they'll have any hope of stamping this out is to go nuclear: don't simply threaten to relegate a few major teams (clearly, relegation did little long-term to Juventus, and they backed down on the rest), ban any teams involved from Serie A for an extended period, and cancel the contracts of all players.
Severe punishments are now needed. Relegating Juventus and stripping them of 2 titles has done them no harm in the long term, as Schad said. Ban the players and management involved for life and ban the teams involved from Serie A for 5 years and relegate them to the 3rd division.
May be a bit drastic but why not close the worst ones down completely. That would certainly make the others think twice.
It might be tempting to get rid of the lot but the question will be whether this was "one rogue footballer" or complete management and ownership collusion. A long way to go in this investigation. The victim will be football.
Destroying a team with a hundred years of history because one or two of their current staff are corrupt is utterly disproportionate. I actually think this is good news, it shows the authorities are taking the issue seriously. This kind of thing has probably happened often without anyone investigating it.
That would not happen necessarily. Take Pompey for example. If they were to fold they would simply begin again but in a far worse position and with a much lower level of footballer. They would simply have to rebuild.
