Seven people arrested in new match-fixing case in Italy

The president, general director and former sporting director of Catania FC are all on the list of people who must go to prison.

Catania President Pulvirenti. Photo: Reuters

On June 23, Italian police arrested Catania President Antonino Pulvirenti, General Director Pablo Cosentino and former Sports Director Daniele Delli Carri on suspicion of match-fixing to help the club stay in Serie B last season. The other four arrested people all worked as sports managers or betting agents.

Last season, Catania ranked 15th out of 22 teams, avoiding the bottom four relegation spots.

According to Italian police, Catania had five matches suspected of being fixed, including against Varese, Trapani, Latina, Ternana and Livorno. The team won all four of their first matches and drew with Livorno. Catania's 1-0 win over Avellino is under further investigation.

In connection with the case, Messina officials and players from Livorno, Varese and Trapani also had to work with the police.

Not many spectators came to watch Catania play last season.

The Italian Football Federation has launched a sports investigation and asked the police for documents. The agency has previously investigated a number of matches where betting odds were found to be irregular.

Catania finished eighth in Serie A in 2013. They were relegated to Serie B last year, after eight consecutive seasons in Italy's top flight.

Italy shocked the world when it exposed a match-fixing scandal in Serie A in 2006. The consequences were that Juventus were relegated to Serie B, and AC Milan had points deducted.

According to VNE