Juventus, Lazio and Fiorentina Relagated to Serie B

[Che -Guevara]

Italian trio relegated to Serie B

 

AC Milan, Fiorentina, Juventus and Lazio were implicated

 

 

Serie A sides Juventus, Lazio and Fiorentina have been demoted to the second division for their involvement in Italy's match-fixing scandal.

 

Juventus were also stripped of their last two Serie A titles and had 30 points deducted, meaning they are likely to stay down for two seasons.

 

AC Milan will stay in Serie A but will start the season docked 15 points.

 

All are barred from playing in Europe - Juventus, Milan and Fiorentina in the Champions League; Lazio the Uefa Cup.

 

Lazio were penalised seven league points while Fiorentina suffered a 12-point penalty.

 

All four clubs hit out at the verdict and hinted they would appeal.

 

They have three days to appeal to the Federal Court, but they may find they will run out of time to rescue their European places regardless of the outcome of any appeal because the deadline for entry is only 11 days away.

 

The FIGC (Italian football's governing body) must hand its European counterpart Uefa the lists of teams that will be involved in its competitions by 25 July.

 

 

Juventus president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli said: "This verdict is unheard of. We expected a balanced sentence not only in form but in substance, our expectations were different ones.

 

"We could have expected relegation to the second division but to be also handed a 30-point deduction is almost like relegation to the third division. We will appeal."

 

A statement on Fiorentina's official site called the decision "profoundly unjust".

 

It added: "Fiorentina wishes to reiterate the absolute correctness of the club and of their own executives.

 

"Fiorentina will fight with every means possible so that the truth of the facts are revealed."

 

An AC Milan statement said: "AC Milan retains the decision by the CAF of extraordinary injustice.

 

"We will appeal once the documents of the verdict will be available, with the certainty that the procedure will be radically modified by appeal."

 

Lazio president Claudio Lotito, who was banned for three years for his part in the scandal, was fuming following the verdict.

 

"I think this sentence is provisional as it's based on a theorem which is completely ridiculous," he said.

 

"I will not make any decisions until a final sentence is given."

 

Inter, Roma, Chievo and Palermo, who finished third, fifth and seventh and eighth are in line to take the places of the penalised clubs in next season's Champions League.

 

Subject to any appeals Lecce, Messina, and Treviso will avoid relegation to Serie B and keep their places in the top flight as a result of the verdict.

 

Those directly involved with the scandal were also penalised, with former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi suspended from all football for five years and Adriano Galliani, who was AC Milan vice-president, suspended for one year.

 

 

Moggi reacted by saying: "I'm not saddened for myself but for the teams involved and for their fans."

 

The tribunal in Rome investigated charges that the clubs, their management, football officials and referees tried to influence the outcome of matches by interfering with the appointment of officials.

 

In May, transcripts were published of telephone conversations between Moggi and Italian Football Association officials, discussing refereeing appointments in the 2004-05 season.

 

FIGC prosecutor Stefano Palazzi also charged 26 individuals for sporting fraud and violating fairness and probity.

 

All four clubs implicated denied the accusations.

 

Thirteen of Italy's World Cup-winning squad play for the clubs involved, with five at Juventus, who also number Patrick Vieira, Lilian Thuram, David Trezeguet, Pavel Nedved and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in their ranks.

 

Many of them are expected to seek transfers to other leading clubs in Italy or Europe to limit the damage to their careers.

 

source.bbc.com

 

 

Dam AC Milan get lucky. Many world cup vets in these teams. It is transfer time. Who is gonna buy who?

[Allamagan]

I heard this football sale of the century! D:

 

I dont understand why they let Milan to stay up! I wanted them too to be sent straight to serie C.

 

From politics to sport, this county is riddled with bribery and corruptions, looks like something in their gene.

[-Nomadique-]

^ AC Milan is owned by Silvio Berlusconi. Smells pretty fishy to me.

[Viking]

Nothing fishy! They had very little evidence against AC Milan but loads on the other three teams. Especially Juve where Moggi's phone was tapped and a lot of evidence attainned. Moggi even locked up one referee and his assistants in a room and left with the keys because he didn't like how they did their job.

 

AC Milan got 44 point reduction from last seasons run which means they are out of Champions League next season. They also have a -15 point deduction in next years campaign which would make it difficult to qualify for the CL and impossible to win the league. The decision against Juve was very peculiar (Serie B and -30 points), why not just take them to Serie C straight away?

[N.O.R.F]

Very bad for the sport and for Juve in particular. They will be back in say 5-6 years time to be the mother Italian football again. Now it get interesting. The following Juve players just won the world cup

 

* Fabio Cannavaro

* Buffon

* Cammoranesi

* Zambrotta (Man Utd target?)

 

Not to mention Viera and Thuram who play for France.

 

Who will they be playing for next year?

[PlayMaker]

How about trezegett? don't he still play for Juventus?

[mojam]

This is the best news i've heard in a while. No Juventus or Milan in the Champions league for at least 2 to 5 years. This will change the whole european football season.

[Keyz 1-8-7]

Benitez wants Trezeguet to add more firepower to his team and God knows they need it. Cannavaro and Zambrotta are going to sign within days for Real Madrid. Gigi Buffon is going to either AC Milan or Arsenal and there is also another premiership team that wants him. Arsene wenger said it was unlikely that they would raid Juve because of the wages of these players are too high, basically telling Buffon if he wants to come here he will have to take a paycut, knowing Italians thats highly unlikely. Real also made a bid for Kaka worth 35 mill. Spurs are interested in Luca Toni and apparently every1 else that comes on the market, where do they get the money from?

 

Mojam, you're right,the 2 Italian heavyweights are not there would certainly be a lot more exciting and teams like Lyon would do well.

[Socod_badne]

As Inter Milan fan, this is all music to my ears. Inter is now in pole position as shoo-in Scudetto winner.

[Urban]

I've been a Juve fan since i was about 10 or 11 yrs old, and this sentence is really unfair. It just shows that Milan are the biggest mafia in football, they still have a chance of entering UEFA cup even after the 44 point deduction! :mad: Apparently Empoli were supposed to take the last uefa cup spot, but they don't have a license to enter a european comp so Milan are next in line. It's all been calculated man. Why were they given a 44-point penalty and not 45 or 46? whats the reason?

 

I agree with viking tho, it would've made sense to send Juve to Serie C and guarantee a promotion. but i think they can still make it within the first season, if they win 10 out of their first 12 games, they'll have 20 games to make it to the play offs, they just need a good manager who's experienced in serie B, all eyes on didier deschamps!

[Keyz 1-8-7]

Milan is owned by the president, I mean, that just tells you everything. These people are scandal-covered from top to bottom. Too illegit to quit.

[mojam]

Since Juve is stripped of its last two championships and the next candidate is also guilty, who gets these titles. Inter seems to be the next eligible team since they've been in the shadow of Juve and milan the last two rounds.

 

seria A final standing last year (2005/6):

 

1/20 Juve (guilty)

2/20 Milan (guilty)

3/20 Inter

4/20 Fiorentina (guilty)

5/20 Roma

6/20 Lazio (guilty)

 

seria A final standing (2004/5):

 

1 /20 Juve

2 /20 Milan

3 /20 Inter

4 /20 Udinese

12/20 Lazio

18/20 Fiorentina

 

 

yeah, 187. Lyon, Bayern, even Hamburg, are all in a good position for the champions leugue but most important of all if Ajax makes it through the qualifying rounds to the group stages, we'll be placed high in poul 2 instead of poul 3. all depending on whether the higher ranked teams make it through the qualifying rounds for the draw. This means easier opposition in the group stages and an almost guaranteed knock-out stage qualification. look at how the pouling seeds could look like with no Juve, milan, and fiorentina:

 

poul a

Barcelona

Real Madrid

Inter Milan

Liverpool (has to qualify)

Arsenal (has to qualify)

Man Utd

Valencia (has to qualify)

Lyon

 

poul b

Porto

PSV Eindhoven

Bayern Munich

Chelsea

Roma

Ajax (has to qualify)

Celtic

Lille