What does Juventus' "Calciopoli" incident refer to?

Phone records reveal shocking insider information

Juventus Club General Manager Moggi has always been a influential figure in Italian football. He has contributed to Juventus’s long-term prosperity in recent years. made an indelible contribution. But he never dreamed that his phone would be tapped. In the "Gazzetta dello Sport" published on May 4, several paragraphs of the phone monitoring of Moggi by the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office in 2004 were published. Some of the dialogue is shocking. Moggi blatantly bossed around the then Serie A referee Perluigi Paileto on the phone and personally designated the referee for Juventus games. Previous suspicions that Juventus were often "taken care of" by referees during games were finally confirmed.

After the incident, the Italian Football Association stated that it would investigate the matter to the end. Carraro, president of the Italian Football Association, said, "Real fans are sad and angry. We can allow mistakes to happen, but we cannot tolerate that even if they are discovered, they will not be identified and corrected."

The parties involved. Moji said only one sentence after a long silence, "I am very sad. I found that the reported situation is completely different from the facts."

Scandal triggers frenzy of dismissal

"Phone Gate" After the incident was exposed, it caused a strong shock in Italian football. Just four days later (May 8), the 67-year-old Carraro, the chairman of the Italian Football Association, resigned. Although he stated in his resignation report that the resignation was because "in the next few months, the work of the Football Association will "It will be very burdensome. Therefore, the Football Association needs a manager who can devote himself to the work." But everyone knows that the "phone scandal" was the real reason for Carraro's resignation. Because as early as March this year, the Italian Procuratorate presented the relevant report to the Italian Football Association, but until the Italian media exposed the matter in May, the Italian Football Association remained indifferent.

Giraudo, former executive manager of Juventus Club. Published by Xinhua News Agency.

What is even more dramatic is that three days later, on May 11, the Juventus Club Board of Directors also submitted an application for collective resignation. Although they did not mention any details related to "manipulating referees" in their application reasons, they only said that "according to practice, the Juventus Club Board of Directors is about to expire and a new election will be held." At the same time, the Moggi father and son and Juventus club executive manager Ann Giraudo flew to Rome to be questioned by the Naples District Court.

At this point, the shady story of the Juventus club’s referee manipulation scandal began to be revealed. However, at this time, no one can know how long this football shady will be revealed.

Serie A giants have fallen one after another

Just as AC Milan boss Galliani frequently commented on Moggi's "Phonegate" incident, he expressed his innocence and contempt for the other party. At this time, trouble was quietly coming to him.

On May 15, the Italian "Corriere della Sera" made public for the first time a summary of AC Milan's suspected phone tapping of referees. Among them, "You can't make any more mistakes", "We must arrange some obedient referees for the next game", "How could you blow that goal away" and other dialogue contents are jaw-dropping.

Roma, Inter Milan and other wealthy clubs that previously claimed that they had absolutely no problems have also been involved. Phone recording records prove that the former was suspected of match-fixing in the Serie A in 2004, and the latter was also suspected of manipulating referees in the UEFA Champions League in the 2004-2005 season. At that time, the referees of at least two games were controlled by Inter Milan.

Since then, Serie A’s Fiorentina, Lazio, Udinese, Siena, and Messina, and Serie B’s Arezzo, Crotoni, and Avellino have also been exposed as having participated in the anti-counterfeiting campaign. If the facts are true, at least three of the teams will be punished by relegation.

At this point, almost no one from the Italian teams can prove that they are absolutely innocent. The scene of Italian fans marching in front of the Juventus club holding slogans such as "We have been fooled" and "Strongly demanding judicial intervention" has become a major spectacle in the city of Turin.

The scandal turned into a political incident

As the interrogation of Moji progresses, more and more inside stories are revealed.

On May 19, after a six-hour interrogation by the Naples Prosecutor's Office, Moggi's defense completely collapsed and he admitted all his crimes of bribing Football Association officials and referees and manipulating transfers. What is surprising is that not only the relevant teams and football association officials provided help to Moji, but even the police and politicians from some EU countries also offered him advice and gave him the green light.

According to Moggi’s confession, during the transfer process last winter, he helped their favored Spanish players illegally obtain visas. At the same time, the Rome Police Department also reported that Moggi had an unusual relationship with some Rome police officers. The Turin Police Department continued to provide him with asylum, and many officials from the Italian Sports Ministry also provided "special help" to Moggi.

According to the information provided by Moggi, two customs officers at Fiumidino Airport had done something illegal under his instructions. These two "key figures" once helped Raiola, the assistant of Juventus midfielder Emerson, "coincidentally" tide over the difficulties. At that time, Raiola was intercepted by customs officers at Leonardo da Vinci Airport due to visa issues. Raiola immediately called Moggi and asked him to help solve the problem. Moggi called Raiola to give him the phone number of his "friend" inside customs, allowing him to finally leave.

At this time, the "Phonegate" represented not only a sports event, but also evolved into a political event. When asked by reporters what he thought of the matter, Italian caretaker Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said only one sentence: "This is really terrible!" Prime Minister-designate Prodi also said that a commissioner should be sent immediately to investigate the National Football Association. Rectify. Former European Commission member Mario Monti pointed out that the problems in Italian football are fundamentally due to Italian politics.

Judicial intervention shows no mercy

In view of the fact that the "Calciopoli" scandal has become more and more serious, it has gone far beyond the control of the Italian Football Association. A few days ago, the Naples Procuratorate issued a summons to 41 football players involved in the incident for "group fraud" and ordered them to appear in court for a hearing. The "tremendous earthquake" in the Italian football world has completely erupted, and the Italian football world has entered "total chaos".

According to the Naples Prosecutor's Office, there is a "real criminal group" hidden under the shady side of Italian football. There is a leadership core similar to the Mafia "Cupola" within this group. These are the 6 people including Innocent Mazzini, vice president of the Italian Football Association, Juventus club general manager Moggi and executive manager Giraudo, international referee Santis, Serie A referee designator Perreto and Bergamo. Member of the football "Kupola". During the investigation, the prosecutor's office found that they not only manipulated football matches throughout Italy through various means such as fraud, fraud, and threats, but were also suspected of manipulating player transfers and falsifying accounts through some brokerage companies, and colluding with illegal football gambling gangs to subvert football. Market rules.

In order to better investigate the matter, the prosecutor's offices in Turin and Rome have also intervened in the case. They asked clubs in Italy's A and B leagues to provide invoices, billing records, contracts signed with players, conditions and rules and regulations provided by the clubs to assist the investigation. At the same time, Volante, Stas and Tinti, who are responsible for investigating this case, are all famous Italian prosecutors. It can be imagined how seriously the Italian government takes this matter.

The outbreak of the "Calciopoli" scandal has had a huge impact on the reputation of Italian football and has also cast a shadow over the Italian national team's upcoming trip to the World Cup in Germany. However, the Italian government’s “get to the bottom of it” policy and the Italian Procuratorate’s comprehensive and meticulous investigation give us reason to believe that Italian football, after resurrecting from the ashes, will inevitably usher in new glory.