WHEN the Italian football season opens on August 20th, fans who have been staving off their soccer cravings by following news of summer transfers will at last get a chance to watch some real competition. Or will they? Recent investigations have shown that an alarming number of matches are not contests at all, but choreographed performances, the results known to some of the participants before any whistle is blown.
The latest scandal, which led to ten arrests (including at least three players) in May, concerns two second-division games in the 2013-14 season, a 1-0 victory by Modena over Avellino and a 3-0 win by Avellino over Reggina. Also in May, two other judicial offensives reached turning points. In the northern town of Cremona a judge sent more than 90 people to trial, including a former player for Italy. The charges, arising from an investigation code-named Last Bet, relate to an alleged conspiracy to fix results in both senior divisions, Serie A and Serie B, as well as a junior one. Meanwhile, in the southern city of Bari, five people convicted of rigging major Serie B games in the 2007-8 and 2008-9 seasons were given suspended sentences…
