By 
Italy, a country associated with good wine, exquisite cuisine, beautiful women and, above all, Calcio. The Italians are very passionate when it comes to the latter, but unfortunately their beloved game has a harsh history of corruption and scandal.
The recent Calciopli scandal that shocked the soccer world in the summer of 2006 is just one more incident in a long list of problems that have rocked Italian soccer (and Serie A in particular) since the English introduced the game. on the Peninsula. Too many Calcio fans, this recent scandal came as no surprise, and in particular to Italians who have grown accustomed to corruption and scandal within their beloved game.
If you look back to 1926-27 (the lost Scudetto incident in Torino), you’ll find that every previous decade contained at least one event that was surrounded by corruption or scandal. Most Italian fans have gotten used to this and are usually not surprised when a new story hits the headlines. It is as if it had become part of the Calcio peninsular.
There is a theory in Italy that players, officials (and the like) do not fix matches, but twist the concept of match-fixing, and this is seen as the norm by everyone involved in Calcio. It is difficult to explain what I mean when I say that they twist the concept of match fixing, but I will try to explain it with some examples.
It’s not easy to fix a football game, as all games are public events, played in front of crowds (and sometimes TV cameras); with at least three referees, twenty-two players, two coaches, coaching staff, etc. There are several ways to fix a particular result, and it’s kind of a tacit agreement on a result. The lower tier of Italian football is notorious for these kinds of deals, and it’s also commonplace late in the season in Serie A. So what is this deal? In essence, it is ‘setting up a draw’.
Deliberately settling for a draw where the result ensures some mutual benefit for both parties is common in Italy, and since nothing has been officially agreed, nothing can ever be proven. Several bookmakers are aware of this and you will usually see very low odds on a 0-0 result or a straight draw.
An alleged recent example can be seen on the last matchday of the 2006/07 Serie B season, when third-placed Genoa entertained second-placed Napoli. Napoli only needed one point for automatic promotion, and Genoa would join them if they finished 10 points clear of fourth-placed Piacenza. A goalless draw between the two followed, and it was enough to guarantee both promotion to Serie A.
Towards the end of the 2004/05 Serie A season, both clubs from Rome were facing a relegation battle. At the start of the derby, both clubs turned up to give it a try, before various conversations ensued on the pitch. The result? Only six shots were made in the entire match, and the match ended 0-0 (a result that helped both clubs).
Although the Italians accept this as an integral part of Calcio, they were the most affected by an alleged similar result at Euro 2004. Because UEFA took head-to-heads (before overall goal difference) into account when ranking tied teams to points). ), a situation arose in Group C in which Sweden and Denmark only needed a goal-scoring tie for both to advance. The match finished surprisingly 2-2, which was a high enough score to eliminate the Italians (who were tied for lower scores with both the Swedes and the Danes). It was rather ironic that the Italian fans disputed the result, stating that FIFA’s tiebreaker criteria should have been used as it would have prevented the Scandinavians from half playing the game after the score was 2-2.
Another example of alleged match-fixing can usually be seen (again) on the final matchday of the season. Usually, a ‘big club’ (with nothing to play for), is playing a ‘small club’ (fighting a relegation battle), and the ‘small club’ usually gets a favorable result (one they normally wouldn’t). during the course). it’s from the season). Inevitably, this leads to accusations of match-fixing, but this is rarely the case, and is another way of misrepresenting the original concept.
So why isn’t this classed as match-fixing? The answer is simple: nobody expects the ‘big club’ to try too hard (especially in a game that doesn’t make sense). This is worrying, but Calcio fans have come to accept it.
In the last matchday of Serie A of the 2006/07 season, Reggina needed a win to be sure of not being relegated, and they faced AC Milan guaranteed for the Champions League. The result? A 2-0 home win for Reggina ensured her safety.
Same season, but this time the example comes from Serie B. Spezia needed a win to be sure of avoiding relegation, and faced a discouraging trip to Juventus, who hadn’t lost at home all season (but already was guaranteed promotion). The result? A 3-2 victory for Spezia that guaranteed their safety. The theory behind the above examples is simple: why try so hard, especially when you have nothing to play for?
All of the above examples have been accepted as part of Calcio, but in some cases the authorities have repressed and punished the various parties involved in the scandal. Some of the most famous scandals have made world news in the world of football, with the first of these dating back to the late 1920s.
The 1927 scudetto was taken from Torino, after an alleged scandal involving their bitter rival, Juventus. An investigation found that Juventus defender Luigi Allemandi had been bribed by a Torino official before the derby (to the tune of 50,000 lire). Torino were stripped of their first title and surprisingly no one was awarded the 1927 scudetto.
In the summer of 2006, an alleged match-fixing scandal hit the headlines, named Moggiopoli, after the Juventus general manager. The scandal was uncovered by Italian police, implicating league champions Juventus and other top teams including AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina, when multiple wiretaps revealed a dense web of relationships. between team managers and referee organizations. The teams involved in the scandal had been accused of rigging games by selecting favorable referees. Juvetus were stripped of their scudetto, relegated and points deducted, while the other clubs involved had several points deducted.
For most Calcio supporters, this was not a big surprise, as many fans consider the referee to be corrupt (unless proven otherwise). There are several (well-known) examples of refereeing decisions that fans describe as corrupt, as they decided key matches or decided a scudetto: Maurizio Turone’s disallowed goal for Roma against Juventus in 1981; the defeat of Fiorentina in the 1982 scudetto; The penalty lost by Inter and Ronaldo, against Juventus, in 1998.
There are hundreds of examples of alleged match-fixing, throughout the history of Calcio, and there are several scandals that have come to light, which have been uncovered by the authorities. It seems that Calcio fans have come to accept this over the years, and it is part of the nation’s mentality to accept corruption.