A sports tribunal in Rome brought an abrupt end to jubilation over Italy's World Cup success on Friday by throwing three of the country's top clubs out of Serie A for match-fixing .
The five-man panel resisted calls for lenience and on Friday sent Juventus, Lazio and Fiorentina into Serie B with points penalties and allowed Milan to stay in the top flight, but with a hefty penalty .
Lazio fans gathered in protest outside the Rome hotel where the sentences were being read. Similarly in Turin, hundreds of Juventus fans gathered near the team's headquarters .
Some 25 individuals who have been accused of sporting fraud and unfair conduct learned their fates also. They include club executives, federation officials, referees and linesman. The tribunal ignored calls for leniency or even a full amnesty which came from some fans and parts of the political world, especially after Italy's triumph in the World Cup last week .
After a record week spent considering verdicts in a room at Rome's Olympic stadium, the federation panel's chief judge Cesare Ruperto finally read out the verdicts at 21.00 local .
Juventus, the Turin team whose executives were judged to be at the heart of the scam, came off worst. As well as relegation, the club was told it must start next season with a 30-point penalty. This means the club will remain in Serie B for at least two seasons and be effectively barred from the Champions League for three .
Juve, the 'grand old lady' of Italian soccer, was also stripped of the championship titles it won in 2005 and 2006. Fiorentina and Lazio, also demoted, were given 12 and 7-point penalties for next season respectively. Although spared demotion, Milan was docked 44 points from its total last year, meaning that, barring appeals, it will be excluded from the Champions League. In addition it will start next season at -15 points .
The controversial trial focused on alleged attempts by club executives to interfere with the selection of referees and linesmen. According to federation prosecutor Stefano Palazzi, compliant match officials could be relied on to steer matches thanks to apparently minor decisions .
He had asked the tribunal to send down Serie A champions Juventus to the third division for the club's alleged role in the scandal and to relegate AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina to Serie B .
The prosecutor had also called for tough sanctions for the club executives and FIGC officials involved in the scandal .
Former Juve general manager Luciano Moggi, the alleged mastermind behind the network set up to steer matches in some clubs' favour, was barred from any role in Italian soccer for five years. The same sentence was handed to former managing director Antonio Giraudo .
Adriano Galliani, former Soccer League chairman and AC Milan's no.2, was barred for a year .
Speaking before the sentences were read out, Italian Premier Romano Prodi said all those found guilty should pay, dismissing calls for an amnesty to reward the country's World Cup triumph .
"If the two things were to be confused, it would not give the right example," he said. Clubs and officials now have five days to file their appeals. The FIGC wants to wrap up the sporting disciplinary process before UEFA holds the draws for next season's European club competitions at the end of the month .
Fedele Confalonieri, head of Mediaset, the Berlusconi-owned television company, repeated claims on Friday that AC Milan had been drawn into the match-fixing scandal for reasons that were "mainly political" .
Milan is owned by Berlusconi, who has said the probe was aimed at weakening him politically .
The scandal broke in May when telephone wiretaps gathered by Neapolitan prosecutors, featuring comprising conversations between club executives and referees, were published in Italian newspapers .
Four separate criminal probes into the scandal are expected to reach the trial stage later this year .
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 .
