Calciopoli: The scandal that rocked Italy and left Juventus in Serie B
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By Shamoon Hafez
BBC Sport
Tucked off in September 2006 in north-west Italy, Alessandro del Piero and Italy greats Gianluigi Buffon step out in front of 10,000 fans to the opening league match of the year.
Juventus are focusing on their very first effort the next tier of Italy, in Serie B, and the 1-1 draw from minnows Rimini was just another point in a scandal that shook soccer.
That humiliation quickly became rage and also we had the urge to show we were more powerful than that which had occurred to us, Juve season ticket-holder Maurizio Giovannelli tells BBC Sport.
It ultimately gave us the ability to construct a fantastic winning era that is not yet completed today, to be playing in Champions League finals and become, once again, among the top five teams in the world.
The main driving factor for this incredible winning cycle is unquestionably that sense of embarrassment we felt heading down into Serie B.
Part of that embarrassment was having two first-place finishes including the 2006 Serie A name, that was passed the team they face on Sunday, to Inter Milan. Juventus made another charm to get this prize this week.
Just how did the 35-time Italian and also two-time European champions end up being relegated 13 years back?
Alongside Fiorentina, AC Milan and Lazio, Juventus have been one of the greatest clubs in Italian football.
Transcripts from telephone taps were shown.
At one end of the line were crucial figures in Italian football, at the other. They were supposedly being forced to favor certain nightclubs, together with the asserts just detected by chance since prosecutors investigated claims of doping at Juve.
Juve general manager Luciano Moggi was at the middle of the scandal, though he has consistently denied any wrongdoing. He, Italian football federation (FIGC) president Franco Carraro and vice-president Innocenzo Mazzini ended up resigning from their roles.
The narrative was like the eruption of a volcano, Roberto Beccantini, who was employed as a correspondent for La Stampa newspaper in Italy during the scandal, tells BBC Sport.
Juventus is a club which divides Italy over any other, and yet one which always had electricity with all the Agnellis because owners.
Also, it included Moggi.
And do not forget the 2006 has been the year of this World Cup in Germany. A number of the politicians, journalists and showmen chose to cheer contrary to our team.
The Azzurri moved all the way that summer, lifting the World Cup for the fourth time and produced light of these troubles.
Juventus and Moggi chairman Antonio Giraudo being researched by prosecutors narrative is remarkable.
They had supposedly detained his two assistants and referee Gianluca Paparesta in a changing room after Juves 2-1 loss at Reggina in November 2004, and were believed to have berated the officers for not favouring Juve. They deny this was the situation.
Italian newspapers printed wiretaps of Moggi supposedly trying to place stress on the referees of Uefa commissions vice-chairman and of calls made to authorities minister Giuseppe Pisanu.
It was like a gang warfare, states Beccantini.
The jolt in the time is not hard to imagine. Half the country was glad that Juventus had been punished, although another half – the Juventina – was angry and talked of conspiracy.
Even though we have had scandals such as doping, false passports and betting, I think this is the biggest sporting scandal the nation has witnessed.
From soccer, Moggi has been given a lifetime ban for his role.
While Buffon, Del Piero, Giorgio Chiellini, Pavel Nedved and David Trezeguet – all international celebrities and among the very best of their era – decided to stay with Juve in the second branch, several big-name players had been selected off by Europes elite clubs.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Patrick Vieira joined rivals Inter Milan to get a combined #23m, Fabio Cannavaro and Emerson moved to Real Madrid for a total of #13.7m, Lilian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta combined Barcelona for #13m, while Adrian Mutu went into Fiorentina for #5.5m.
Juve lost just four of the 42 matches all season, climbing towards the top.
Theyll play table-topping Inter Milan on Sunday (19:45 BST) in a game with an intriguing backdrop after Juves decision this week to produce a new pitch to the Italian Olympic Committees Collegio di Garanzia dello Sport tribunal to strip Inter of their 2005-06 name.
Juventus completed shirt that season but had the title revoked. Second-placed AC Milan were also docked points, meaning third-placed Inter were declared champions.
Giovannelli says Inter were given thecardboard Scudetto and that they had beennever penalized for claims made against them in later years. They deny any wrongdoing.
Beccantini adds:The competition between the two is very demanding and runs very deep. Inter did not deserve the Scudetto of 2006.
Moggis defence lawyers found – a few decades later – phone calls involving people at Inter and referee designators.
This didnt necessarily mean guilt but it could have been sufficient to avoid the awarding of the championship to Inter.
Juventus does not request the Scudetto of all Calciopoli to be returned. They just ask for it to be removed from Inter, who dont deserve it
Details of the Calciopoli scandal within this article were published by BBC Sport on 14 July 2006.
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