Top 10 scandals in the history of sports

Calciopoli – Italian football scandal, 2006

A view of the court room inside the Naples court palace is seen on April 13, 2010 where former Juventus Football Club general manager Luciano Moggi is set to face a court case over his alleged involvement in a 2006 corruption scandal.

Just a few weeks before the Italian national team lifted the FIFA World Cup in 2006, Italian football’s very foundations were rocked by a massive scandal that would bring the League to its knees. The Calcio di Serie A, as it is called, uncovered a massive conspiracy that involved top clubs like Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio.

Telephone records revealed a number of conversations between club officials and referee organisations, where the clubs selected favourable referees to officiate in their club’s games. The biggest culprits were Juventus’s general managers Luciano Moggi and Antonio Giraudo who tried to influence the appointment of referees for the Turin club’s games. Moggi got the strictest punishment when he was banned from football for life.

As a result of the scandal, Juventus were stripped of the titles they won in 2005 and 2006, after which they were relegated to the second division, the Serie B. They were also not allowed to take part in European competitions, along with Fiorentina and Lazio. AC Milan were also deducted 30 points in the 2005-06 season.

The Calciopoli scandal severely dented the reputation of Italian football and almost killed the League with Inter Milan dominating in the absence of the firepower of the other big teams. It wasn’t until the 2011-12 season that Juventus would return to dominate the Serie A by winning the Scudetto.