Italian match fixing scandal threatens Juventus and more

The Serie A winners are alleged to have arranged favourable referees for key European and Serie A matches. But as magistrates examine Juventus' antics it appears that the corruption may have spread right across Italian football with investigations taking place in Naples, Rome, Turin and Parma.

Already it is assumed that many of the officials involved bet on matches and that it was not simply a means of ensuring their teams were given preferential treatment by the referees. Italian national goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who also plays for Juventus, has been questioned about his betting on Serie A games.

The scandal could cost the Italian coach, Marcello Lippi, his job too with state prosecutors questioning him about whether he favoured Juve strikers when picking the national squad. Lippi was formely coach of Juventus.

It certainly looks as though the authorities think the matches were probably fixed.

Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, the international governing body, told La Gazzetta dello Sport: "It's terrible what's happening, especially for the game's image. I could understand it if it had happened in Africa, but not in Italy."

And the only Italian referee picked for the World Cup, Massimo De Santis, has been removed from his post and not replaced by an Italian.

AC Milan have called for Juventus to be stripped of their title (Milan finished second) and be relegated to Serie B for next season. While the match fixing and gambling scandals in Italy are investigated it seems likely that the start of the next season will be put back until October. But Italy must nominate its clubs for UEFA competition next season by June and, assuming UEFA do not ban all Italian clubs from European competition, it will be interesting to see whether Juve and other major clubs that possibly were involved in the scandal end up playing in the Champions League and UEFA Cup next season.