Four top Italian clubs are appealing to the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) to have punishments for their parts in the Calciopoli referee-rigging scandal softened. The decisions of the CONI arbitration board should be the definitive verdicts on the affair, because this body is the final level of Italian sporting justice .
The board heard the cases of Juventus, AC Milan and Lazio on Wednesday and it will listen to Fiorentina's arguments on Thursday morning .
The Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) relegated Juventus to Serie B, stripped it of the 2005 and 2006 titles and gave it a 17-point penalty for its role in Calciopoli .
The FIGC allowed the other guilty clubs, Fiorentina, Reggina, Lazio and AC Milan, to stay in the top flight giving them penalties of 19, 15, 11 and eight points respectively .
Juventus Chairman Giovanni Cobolli Gigli said Wednesday that he was happy with how the club's hearing went and that he expected a "substantial reduction in the punishment" .
Juve was hit hardest because Luciano Moggi, the club's former general manager, was allegedly the main villain in moves to have 'friendly' refs assigned to some teams' games .
But Juve says it is being made a scapegoat for all the ills of Italian soccer .
Lazio lawyer Gian Michele Gentile said he believed it is possible that CONI would scrap his club's punishment all together. The arbitration board is expected to announce its decisions at the end of the month .
While CONI insists nothing has been decided in advance, experts predict the sentences will be softened in a significant way at arbitration .
This is thought likely in order to reward Juventus and the others for agreeing to keep the dispute within the realm of sporting justice .
The clubs had threatened to take their cases to the civil courts, a move that would have thrown the game into chaos .
Experts predict the points handicaps will be cut by 30-50% .
In Juventus' case, this would mean a reduction of 5-8 points .
Juventus has already fought its way back to -4, after winning four of its first five games in the second division and drawing the other .
According to the pundits, Fiorentina's handicap will be softened by 6-9 points, Lazio's will be reduced by 4-6 and Milan's by 2-4 .
Reggina's sentence was issued after the other clubs', which is why its case has not reached CONI arbitration yet .
As things stand, Fiorentina is bottom of Serie A with -13 points, Reggina is 19th with -10 and Lazio is 18th with -2 .
Milan is the only club to have battled back into positive figures - it is 12th with three points after winning three games and drawing two .
At the weekend the chairmen of Genoa, Napoli and Brescia, three of Juve's main rivals for promotion from Serie B, said it would be unfair to change the points situation with the season up and running .
Riccardo Montanaro, one of Juve's lawyers, countered that the fact the season has started is of "no relevance" .
photo: Cobolli Gigli
