Italian football is in the midst of an off-field controversy after two Italian Premier League internationals, Aston Villa’s Nicolo Zaniolo and Newcastle United’s Sandro Tonali, were questioned by police as part of an investigation into illegal betting.
This happened after Juventus midfielder Nicolo Fagioli had already been mentioned in the investigation.
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Zaniolo and Tonali were interrogated on 12 October. On October 17, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office of the FIGC (Italian federation) imposed a 12-month sanction on Fagioli, five of which will be commuted, as the 22-year-old will have to perform network services.
The Athletic explains what we know (and don’t know) about the story so far.
Around 6 p. m. on Thursday, Oct. 12, officials from Turin’s Flying Squad stormed through the gates of the Italian educational base in Coverciano, a leafy suburb of Florence. After education, they wanted to interview Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Zaniolo as part of an investigation into illegal online activities. Platforms.
Cameras from RAI, Italy’s public broadcaster, showed the two players being escorted to see police through Gianluigi Buffon in his new role as head of the national team’s delegation, alongside Emiliano Cozzi and Mauro Vladovich, general secretaries of the Italian national team and the team. Football Federation (FIGC) respectively. The police confiscated their electronic devices and informed them that they were being investigated by the Turin Prosecutor’s Office.
In a statement, the FIGC granted Tonali and Zaniolo a waiver from the foreign team on the grounds that neither was fit to play in European Championship qualifiers against Malta on Saturday and England three days later. Both left Coverciano this morning. (Friday).
“It was a complicated night,” Italy head coach Luciano Spalletti told Sky Italia. “When you have to take things home (as Italy do against Malta and England as they fight to qualify for next summer’s final in Germany), there is anxiety. . But it was another night, with a lot of bitterness for what happened.
“The whole team is with Tonali and Zaniolo. We will have to work hard to help them protect themselves, but it is also fair that justice takes its course and, if acts have been committed, it is fair to pay for them. “
It would seem that these are illegal online gambling platforms. In Italy, betting is not criminal, as long as bettors use bookmakers licensed through the country’s customs and monopoly agency. If, on the other hand, a bet is placed in an unauthorized bookmaker, it is an offence punishable by three months in prison or a progressive fine ranging from 51,000 to 516,000 euros (between 44,100 and 447,000 pounds sterling or between 53,500 and 542,000 dollars).
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Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported today that Tonali allegedly used a site called worldgame365. me, while Zaniolo allegedly used Evoz9. fx-gaming. net. Both are illegal. It is not yet known if those platforms were used to bet on football.
ANSA, the Italian newspaper and La Repubblica claim that sources close to Zaniolo claim that he admitted his access to the platform, but said that he did not know it was illegal to do so and that he had only played card games on it.
The players have yet to say anything publicly about it. Athletic contacted his representatives to ask if they wanted to respond to the allegations; Zaniolo declined to comment, while on Oct. 17 Tonali’s agent, Beppe Riso, claimed that the player was suffering from a game-like “illness. “
“Sandro is a bit shocked by the situation,” Beppe Riso said Tuesday at a meeting at the Italian embassy in London. “But it has already started to fight back. Sandro is a fighter.
“The most important game started against a disease. Sandro is used to big games and wins them. Sandro’s experiment will save the lives of other children.
Juventus midfielder Nicolo Fagioli, 22, the first player singled out in the investigation.
It should be clarified that the investigation of the Turin flying team does not focus particularly on football. But, by accumulating evidence about these illegal online gambling platforms, they got to know not only the organization that ran them, but also the users.
Two days before the police stop in Coverciano to speak with Tonali and Zaniolo, La Stampa newspaper reported that Fagioli, who debuted in Italy less than a year ago, was already being investigated by the Turin prosecutor’s office as a user.
At the end of August, the player reported the situation to the FIGC federal prosecutor.
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In a statement, Fagioli’s legal team said: “With reference to the news that has appeared in the press today (11 October), we can affirm that our consumer is approaching the case with duty and with a view to maximum transparency and collaboration with citizens and sports judicial authorities, as evidenced by being the first to intervene in a timely manner with the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (FIGC).
Athletic contacted Fagioli’s legal representative, who referred us to his previous statement. It was later shown that Fagioli’s alleged bets were about football but were similar to those of his own team.
Juventus then released a statement that read: “Regarding what has been reported through some media, Juventus FC clarifies that as soon as it learned the news of the possible involvement of its player Nicolo Fagioli in the betting matter, it immediately and quickly contacted the FIGC. Federal Prosecutor’s Office.
On October 17, the federal prosecutor of the FIGC imposed a 12-month suspension on Fagioli, five of which will be commuted with the 22-year-old to provide network service.
Their network service includes talks at amateur clubs, federal educational centers, and anti-drug charities.
Fagioli will also undergo six-month treatment and has been fined €12,500.
On August 1, the famous paparazzi Fabrizio Corona made a series of accusations on his Telegram account related to Fagioli’s alleged gambling. The Athletic has not independently verified those claims and does not publish them here.
After La Stampa’s report that the Turin prosecutor had placed the player under investigation, Corona vowed to make further accusations on Oct. 12. In the afternoon, he posted an article on the Dillinger News Instagram page. Everything said: “Tonali and Zaniolo are also betting. “
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Meanwhile, Milan police asked Corona to prepare himself to ask himself as an informed user of the facts. Corona released the audio of the agents making the request and agreed of his own volition.
Corona, 49, is known as the king of paparazzi and has a habit of putting a watermark on his contents with a symbol of himself wearing a crown and smoking a cigar. His agency, Corona’s, was “generating 5 million euros a month. “said his guest appearance on Belve, a show on the RAI 2 TV channel that expired last month.
Corona at the center of the Vallettopoli scandal in 2006, an investigation, among other things, into the extortion of celebrities from the world of entertainment and sports, including footballers David Trezeguet and Alberto Gilardino.
In 2007, he spent 77 days in prison before being transferred and placed under space arrest for health reasons. In 2015, the Supreme Court sentenced Corona to thirteen years and two months for offences.
But on September 23, the Milan Control Court granted him early release.
In his autobiography, Corona describes himself as a mythological creature, “half God, half. “
Villa had not yet obtained full data on the matter as of Oct. 13 and was waiting for additional recommendations before deciding on next steps. They have not yet made a formal comment.
Newcastle also declined to comment on progress with Tonali.
Tonali’s agent said on October 17: “I would like to thank Newcastle. They’ve been through Sandro’s team. He’s in training and maybe he’ll play on Saturday. He understood that he had to deal with this problem. The Club is surely on his side.
Yes, they are innocent until proven guilty. Fagioli has played 365 minutes for Juventus this season and although he did not feature in his last game, a 2-0 win in the Derby della Mole against neighbours Turin, he has featured in 4 of their five games since the FIGC opened. investigation based on his disclosure to the U. S. Attorney on Aug. 30.
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Most recently, Fagioli took part in celebrations marking the centenary of the Agnelli family’s ownership of the club, which included a legends’ brawl with Zinedine Zidane, Edgar Davids and Antonio Conte on Tuesday.
Giuseppe Chine, federal prosecutor at the FIGC, opened an investigation against Fagioli early last month and gave him 60 days to review the evidence.
The same protocol will be followed with Tonali and Zaniolo. Now that the Turin prosecutor’s office has put them under investigation, China can request the relevant documents and open its own in the sporting sense.
In the statement concerning Fagioli on 17 October, the FIGC showed that it had reached “an agreement” with Fagioli regarding his sanction.
Fagioli’s case is about six weeks ahead of those involving Tonali and Zaniolo.
In sporting terms, footballers are prohibited from hitting or accepting bets, or participating in competitions organised under the supervision of FIFA, UEFA and FIGC.
If it were proven that the players bet on football, they would be in breach of Article 24 of the Code of Sports Justice. The same article provides for a penalty of at least 3 years in case of infringement and a fine of at least 25,000 euros. In theory, this ban would apply, in the case of Tonali and Zaniolo, to the Premier League.
In such circumstances, the suspension could be reduced by up to 50 per cent if a sentence reduction agreement is reached. Commutation agreements have also been reached in the past if the perpetrator cooperates with the sports justice system. This was the case with Vittorio Micolucci, who was banned for 14 months while playing for Ascoli in another gambling scandal in 2011.
It’s a break overseas, so it’s the only story in town. But it would still have made headlines.
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The news of Fagioli was quite shocking, but the sight of police cars descending on Coverciano impacted differently. Fagioli was named Serie A Young Player of the Year last season. Zaniolo called up the Italian national team before making his debut at Roma in 2018, at the Bernabeu no less. Tonali has become the most beloved Italian player of all time after leaving AC Milan for Newcastle for £55 million this summer. They are the leaders of the next generation.
Wednesday’s occasions are somewhat reminiscent of what happened in the run-up to Euro 2012, when Domenico Criscito was sacked from the Italian national team amid some other gambling scandal. Criscito missed the tournament, but was later eliminated.
Sadly, this is the latest in a long line of scandals affecting Italian football.
The era of innocence of the game, which probably disappeared much earlier, came to an end on March 23, 1980, when television journalist Gianluca Galeazzi asked the studio to hold him at Rome’s Olympic Stadium because a police car had parked on the race track. Arrest warrants were issued. He served two Perugia players in what would become known as the Totonero match-fixing scandal.
The wonderful Paolo Rossi even got caught up in it and served a two-year ban before returning for the 1982 World Cup final, where he finished as top scorer, won the tournament and won the Ballon d’Or.
Unlike other scandals, this one is not match-fixing.
Five years ago, the Italian parliament passed the decree on dignity. It prohibits advertising by gaming and betting companies in any form and in any medium. That’s why Italian clubs don’t have sponsors at the forefront of the betting industry.
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The law is said to have charged Italians more than €100 million and when Covid-19 hit, clubs pushed for it to relax.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies have filled the void, although the so-called “crypto winter” has led to the cancellation of some sponsorship deals, such as that of Inter and Roma with DigitalBits, due to late payments.
The Tonali Newcastle star signed this summer and started 8 of his new club’s first 11 games, a direct part of the starting midfield rotation in the two No. 8 positions, adding up the two Champions League games.
He did not acclimatize to English football without problems. His power and form in defence are evident, but at times he has struggled in terms of position. After briefly wasting his position against Sean Longstaff, he played Newcastle’s last two games due to Joelinton’s injury. – and put in their best overall performance of the season in a 4-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain at St James’ Park.
There is no indication that it has any influence on their short-term availability in Newcastle.
However, any potential unavailability would be a blow to head coach Eddie Howe, even if the imminent recovery of Joe Willock and Joelinton would cover any immediate absences.
However, the long-term effects may be much greater, especially now that Newcastle are close to their FFP (Financial Fair Play) limits.
Head coach Unai Emery sees Zaniolo as a player who can be used in various positions in the attacking line, operating basically from the left but who in the past played up front and right, compensating for injuries to Moussa Diaby and Leon Bailey.
Although the player signed for Galatasaray from Roma for a €15 million payment in January, Villa’s chairman of football operations Monchi lobbied for the 24-year-old in August, following Emiliano Buendia’s long-term anterior cruciate ligament injury in pre-season.
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Monchi knew Zaniolo from his time at Roma and, after a groin injury suffered a few weeks earlier, had first signed him on loan for a season. Villa will cover Zaniolo’s salary and pay a £3 million loan as part of a deal that includes an option to buy at the end of the season.
It helped ease the blow of the backhand suffered by Jacob Ramsey, who also plays as a left number 10 in Emery’s formula but is now also injured.
Due process will have to be allowed in the formula of criminal and sports justice under the presumption of innocence.
In the meantime, the players have hired their lawyer and can resume their activities with their club.
(Additional material: Jacob Whitehead and Jacob Tanswell)
(Top photos: Getty Images)
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James Horncastle covers Serie A for The Athletic. He comes from ESPN and is writing an e-book about Roberto Baggio.