Italian championship winning manager Antonio Conte has been banned for 10 months after failing to report alleged match fixing involving his old club Siena. Conte, now manager of 2011/12 Serie A winners Juventus, was found guilty by the FIGC of not reporting the presence of fixing at Siena in 2010/11. He wasn’t involved in the act of fixing itself and the 10 month ban follows a rejected plea bargain that would have seen the suspension cut to three months and a fine of €200,000 added.
Among those also suspended are Angelo Alessio, his assistant coach at Juve and Siena, who received an eight month ban with former Lecce president Giovanni Semerato and former Grosseto president Piero Camilli likely to receive longer sentences. The two clubs they represent have also been relegated from Serie B.
Juventus, the club that seem to not be able to shake the calciopoli scandal of 2006, issued a statement on behalf of their employees, plus two other players that were cleared. It read:
“Juventus Football Club warmly welcomes the acquittal of its players Leonardo Bonucci and Simone Pepe, and reiterates its full support for Antonio Conte and Angelo Alessio in the hope the next stage of the process will finally prove their innocence.
“A group of legal professionals have been appointed by the individuals concerned and, with the full support of the club, is already working to prepare grounds for an appeal.”
The latest scandal to rock Italian football won’t surprise anyone such has been the regularity at which they’ve appeared over the past decade. Thankfully most of the cases get found out by the advanced systems in place to combat match fixing and illicit betting in Europe.
