Football federation indictments in Italy's biggest-ever sports scandal will be issued by federation prosecutor Stefano Palazzi after the Italian bourse closes on Thursday - and just after Italy plays a key World Cup tie against the Czech Republic.
Italian Football Federation (FIGC) administrator Guido Rossi told reporters his decision was in accordance with the wishes of bourse oversight body Consob, which has foreseen large movements in the stock of the two listed clubs involved, Juventus and Lazio.
Two other clubs, AC Milan and Fiorentina, have been implicated in the match-fixing scandal.
Between them, the four clubs have 13 players in the World Cup: Juventus' Gianluigi Buffon, Gianluca Zambrotta, Alessandro Del Piero, Mauro Camoranesi and Fabio Cannavaro, AC Milan's Alberto Gilardino, Alessandro Nesta, Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo and Filippo Inzaghi, Lazio's Massimo Oddo and Angelo Peruzzi, and Fiorentina's Luca Toni.
None of the players have been accused of wrongdoing - except for Buffon in a separate sports betting probe - but the announcement of indictments, and recommended penalties, is sure to affect them.
Italy will top its group and avoid tournament favourites Brazil in the next round if it beats the Czechs or if it draws with the Czechs and Ghana does not beat the US. Juventus, which clinched its 29th Italian title last month, is expected to face the stiffest charges in the FIGC trial, due to start next week.
The Turin giants could be relegated to the third division and lose their two most recent Italian titles, while the other three clubs are likely to be relegated to the second division - although Milan is said to be more heavily implicated.
All four clubs would therefore be eliminated from European competition next year. Rossi said the delay in announcing the indictments would not affect the schedule for the sporting side of what has been called 'Soccergate' or, after its alleged ringleader, Juve's ex-general manager Luciano Moggi, 'Moggigate'.
Palazzi will press charges against clubs and individuals suspected of wrongdoing at an FIGC tribunal which will convene next Tuesday, June 26-27. The tribunal should issue its sentences by July 9. Appeals should be heard before July 20, so the whole sporting disciplinary process can be wrapped up before UEFA conducts the draws for next season's European club
competitions.
Four separate criminal probes into the scandal are expected to take much longer.
A month ago Rossi appointed ex-Clean Hands spearhead Francesco Saverio Borrelli to examine wiretaps of Moggi and
officials from other clubs talking to, or about, referee appointers, referees, linesmen and FIGC officials who have since resigned. On Monday Borrelli handed over his 193-page report to Palazzi.
AC Milan fans immediately began sweating about the prospect of following their team in Serie B next year, after press reports suggested the club was more heavily implicated in 'Moggi-gate' than previously thought. Up to now the main suspect has been Juventus, because of Moggi's allegedly central role. Lazio and Fiorentina were also thought to be in danger of relegation, on the basis of wiretapped conversations recorded during criminal probes and published in newspapers, while Milan's role was seen as marginal.
But according to press reports this week, Borrelli has concluded Milan committed "systematic misconduct".
Apparently, Borrelli's report suggests Milan ran an alternative to the Moggi system, which the club used to make sure it, too, was assigned 'friendly' match officials. The press said Milan's situation is now considered to be more serious than that of Lazio and Fiorentina.
In one of the published wiretaps, Milan official Leonardo Meani praises a referee for his handling of a game and even promises that the club's chairman, former premier Silvio Berlusconi, will send him to his hair-transplant doctor in Switzerland.
But Italy and Milan midfield star Gattuso seemed unconcerned on Tuesday.
"I'm certain Milan will stay in Serie A, even in the light of the wiretaps," the player said from the Azzurri camp at the World Cup. "It seems to me that it would be too much to relegate a side because Meani says 'I'll get you a hair transplant' in a
telephone call".
