When Italian football was blown apart by Calciopoli

Italian football had been rocked by several scandals down through the years but nothing compared to Calciopoli, which saw champions Juventus stripped of not one but two titles and relegated to Serie B for the first time in their history.

Essentially, an investigation into the football agency GEA world revealed attempts by the Bianconeri, AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina to influence the appointment of referees to Serie A fixtures.

The Rossoneri were hit with a 30-point deduction for their involvement and that resulted in the 2005-06 Scudetto being awarded to third-placed Inter. Juve’s 2004-05 title triumph was also revoked but was not assigned to another club.

The whole affair remains a bitterly divisive issue today, with the Bianconeri insisting that they were made the scapegoats in a scandal that later evidence suggested involved many other clubs, including Inter.

Indeed, Juve boss Fabio Capello still maintains, “The [titles] were then taken away from us, but we won them on the pitch.”

CHANGES

Juventus pulled off a major coup by signing France midfielder Patrick Vieira from Arsenal but it was Fiorentina’s Giorgio Chiellini who would actually prove the more significant acquisition in the long run, as the former would end up defecting to Inter after just one season in Turin.

Despite already being in possession of Andriy Shevchenko and Pippo Inzaghi, Milan strengthened their attack with Alberto Gilardino and Christian Vieri. The prolific Parma forward Gilardino had a decent debut season at San Siro but it quickly became evident that Vieri’s best days were well and truly behind him.

Inter made a couple of excellent additions to their defence in the shape of Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar and Argentine centre-half Walter Samuel, while they also snapped up Luis Figo on a free transfer.

The most notable changes in the capital both came on the bench, with Roma appointing Luciano Spalletti as their new coach, and Lazio hiring Delio Rossi.

Fiorentina,…

Source link : https://www.footballcritic.com/season-reviews/when-italian-football-was-blown-apart-by-calciopoli-serie-a-in-2005-06/106

Author : [email protected] (Mark Doyle)

Publish date : 2024-07-27 13:00:00

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