Italian police visited the national team’s training ground near Firenze earlier this week as part of an ongoing match fixing investigation. Among those arrested in the latest phase were Stefano Mauri, the captain of Lazio.
Police from Cremona in northern Italy are leading the so-called ‘Last Bet’ investigation which is said to involve eight matches from the 2010-11 season. It is alleged to involve several teams in the top three divisions and an international betting syndicate that extends to Singapore and South Africa.
Italian police visited the national team’s training ground near Firenze earlier this week as part of an ongoing match fixing investigation. Among those arrested in the latest phase were Stefano Mauri, the captain of Lazio.
Police from Cremona in northern Italy are leading the so-called ‘Last Bet’ investigation which is said to involve eight matches from the 2010-11 season. It is alleged to involve several teams in the top three divisions and an international betting syndicate that extends to Singapore and South Africa.
Last summer, after an earlier wave of arrests, 17 players were banned or suspended from the national game. Codacons, a consumer organisation, is launching a class action to recoup damages of €500 each for supporters of Bari, one of more than 20 clubs under investigation.
Serie A once ranked alongside the Premiership and La Liga in Spain as one of the top three competitions in Europe, but it has lost much of its lustre and match fixing investigations have contributed to that loss of prestige. The practice does appear to be quite deeply rooted.