The first full day of a sporting trial into Italian football's biggest ever scandal was bogged down with technicalities Monday, as the defendants' lawyers attempted to have the cases dismissed.
The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) tribunal is examining allegations that four leading Serie A clubs, including champions Juventus, and a slew of officials and referees were part of a match-fixing ring.
The trial opened last Thursday but was almost immediately postponed after judges agreed to allow five other clubs to take part in the proceedings as co-plaintiffs. The slow progress has raised fears that the sporting disciplinary process will not be completed before UEFA draws for next season's European club competitions at the end of the month.
But parties involved expressed confidence Monday that the deadlines will be met, despite the sluggish start. Juventus of Turin, Lazio of Rome and Fiorentina of Florence risk being relegated if found guilty. Juve could also be stripped of the 2005 and 2006 Serie A titles.
AC Milan faces less serious charges. It probably risks having league points deducted at the start of next season and losing its berth in the European Champions League at worst. Juventus is in the hottest water because its former general manager, Luciano Moggi, is the alleged mastermind behind the network set up to steer matches in some clubs' favour.
The scandal broke when daily newspapers published conversations involving Moggi and other officials, recorded by prosecutors as part of criminal probes. One of the objections raised Monday was that wiretapped evidence is not eligible at the FIGC tribunal.
Moggi's lawyer also argued the tribunal has no jurisdiction over him because he has resigned from Juventus and is no longer part of the soccer world. FIGC prosecutor Stefano Palazzi rebutted both objections. He cited precedents about the use of wiretaps at FIGC proceedings and argued Moggi must answer to the tribunal because he was a Federation member when the alleged offences were committed.
Moggi heads a list of 26 referees, officials and club managers accused of misconduct, along with Juve's ex-CEO Antonio Giraudo. In return for favours on the pitch, Moggi and Giraudo stand accused of wining and dining refs and giving them
half-price deals for cars made by Fiat, the Turin auto maker controlled by Juve's owner the Agnelli Group. Other defendants include Fiorentina owner Andrea Della Valle, owner of footwear giant Tod's, his brother Diego, the club chairman, and Lazio Chairman Claudio Lotito.
Three Italian Football Federation (FIGC) officials, including former president Franco Carraro, the ex-head of the referees association, two former referee appointers, eight referees and two linesmen have also been charged. Individuals found guilty face the prospect of being banned from the game.
The clubs and individuals are accused of violations of fairness and probity and sporting fraud, according to articles 1 and 6 of FIGC's regulations. The five clubs which claim they have been damaged by the so-called 'Moggi system' are Lecce, Messina, Treviso - which were relegated from Serie A last season - and second division Bologna and Brescia.
On Monday they were joined by a sixth Serie B co-plaintiff, Arezzo.
Four separate criminal probes into the scandal are expected to reach the trial stage much later. State prosecutors are looking at different elements of the alleged web of corruption, which also extends to illegal betting, false accounting, doping and transfer fraud. The so-called Moggi-gate scandal is the biggest to hit the sport since a 1980 betting case in which Paolo Rossi - later Italy's 1982 World Cup hero - was among the players banned.
Premier Romano Prodi stressed Monday that the Azzurri's success at Germany 2006 so far has not "cancelled out the ills of our football," in a letter published in sports daily, La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"Italian footballshould be profoundly reformed," he wrote.
