http://www.news.com.au/national/soccer-betting-scandal-hits-italy/story-fn7mjqus-1226370721802Soccer betting scandal hits Italy
Under suspicion: Lazio's Stefano Mauri was among those arrested as part of a wide-ranging investigation into match-fixing in soccer.
ITALIAN soccer is in disarray after 19 people were held by police investigating illegal betting.
Lazio captain Stefano Mauri was one of those detained early yesterday.
The Italian national team's training base near Florence was targeted in the stunning dawn raids, less than two weeks before Euro 2012, with defender Domenico Criscito's room searched, La Gazzetta dello Sport reported.
Criscito, who plays for Russian club Zenit St. Petersburg, later was cut from Italy coach Cesare Prandelli's 23-man squad for the European Championships because of the investigation.
The Turin home of former international Antonio Conte, the head coach of newly-crowned Italian league champion Juventus, also was searched by officers probing claims that players and officials fixed games for an international betting ring.
Mauri, 32, was the standout name among 11 current and former professional players held following the raids. A total of 30 homes belonging to players, coaches and administrators of clubs in the country's top two divisions were searched.
Fourteen people were arrested, including five people in Hungary, while three more were placed under house arrest and two others told to report to the authorities.
Italy was scheduled to play Luxembourg on today in a warm-up for the Euros, which kick off June 8 in Poland and Ukraine.
Yesterday's raids were part of a long-standing investigation into corruption in Italian soccer, dubbed "Calcioscommesse," that already saw 17 players, including former Italy internationals Cristiano Doni and Giuseppe Signori, banned from the sport and Serie A side Atalanta hit with a points deduction.
But Conte has come out fighting, AFP reported, after being implicated in the "Calcioscommesse" affair when one of his former players Filippo Carobbio accused him of complicity in a fixed match during his time as coach of Siena in the 2010/11 season.
Carobbio claims Conte knew of an agreement to draw a match against Novara, after which both teams were promoted to Serie A.
"My football history as a player and coach speaks volumes," said Conte, a former combative midfielder with Italy and Juve.
"You can ask my team-mates, my players and my opponents.
"Don't forget that for my honesty and integrity I've had to confront an extreme aggression.
"Last year with Siena we won promotion through sacrifice and effort.
"It was an amazing year and I repeat: I and my players have nothing to do with these facts.
"What I want to know is why didn't the Cremona public prosecutor speak to me before I was investigated?"
Conte wasn't the only person connected with Juve to have been caught up in the affair.
Centre-back Leonardo Bonucci, who is part of the Italy set-up, has been accused of involvement in match-fixing when he was at Bari.
Atalanta's Andrea Masiello, who has admitted to taking a bribe to score an own goal when at Bari, has allegedly claimed Bonucci was one of the players involved in fixing results.
However, Bonucci has not been sought by prosecutors in either Cremona or Bari and Juve president Andrea Agnelli insists the club has absolute faith in both coach and player.
"This is a worrying affair for the football world and we're following it with apprehension and bitterness but that doesn't mean Antonio Conte is part of it," said Agnelli.
"His role, from what we've read is as good as insignificant and on top of that we know the man and his values of integrity and honesty.
"As a club Juventus and I personally are standing beside Antonio Conte and Leonardo Bonucci.
"We hope Leo will play a great European Championships. Antonio is and will be our coach next season in the Champions League."
While fellow Italy international Domenico Criscito, whose hotel room was searched by police at dawn yesterday, has been excluded from the Euros, Italy coach Cesare Prandelli has confirmed that Bonucci will remain in the squad taken to Poland and Ukraine.
You may think such a scandal could have some consequences on the Italian team performances but beware : A few day before the start of the 2006 World Cup, Italy was hit by the Calciopoli scandal. Italy won that World Cup...
