The Italian betting scandal - explained

Italian football finds itself in the midst of a very serious scandal with one prominent player already receiving a ban and three more at least being investigated by the police for allegedly betting on illegal platforms and betting on football matches.

Two players left the Italy National Team's training camp at Coverciano ahead of the two Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and England, while two more players have also been named in what seems to be an incredibly serious and damaging situation. Reports in Italy have claimed as many as ten Serie A players could be implicated.

To outline the rule that has been broken in regards to allegedly betting on football matches, Article 24 of the Code of Sports Justice states that it prohibits "the subjects of the federal system, managers, members, and members of clubs belonging to the professional sector from making or accepting bets, directly or indirectly, even from persons authorised to receive them, which have as their object results relating to official matches organised within the framework of the FIGC, FIFA, and UEFA."

Obviously, this is a very serious story anyway, but it is something that opens up a lot of wounds in Italy given the Calciopoli scandal of 2006 was such a serious and wide-reaching match fixing event. There is no clear suggestion of match fixing here, but with more players being named, those questions are going to have to be asked at every level and it's a very sensitive topic.

This is a developing story within Italy that likely has a lot of twists and turns to come, but here is the current state of play with Italy's football betting scandal.

How has the case unfolded?

There are four named players at this stage, although it is said that another Juventus player who is currently playing in Serie B is also involved.

This information has all emerged from a prominent former member of the paparazzi and gossip columnist, Fabrizio Corona. He has actually come in for a lot of criticism for how he has gathered this information and shared it but nonetheless, the information exists. He has been sharing his findings on Dillingernews.it, seemingly drip-feeding the information to the press and the authorities.

Corona's first report on this was actually on August 2, when he reported that Nicolo Fagioli suffers from a gambling addiction but he did not mention that the authorities were aware of this and a secret investigation had been opened.

Nicolo Fagioli - Juventus

It first emerged on October 10 that 22-year-old Juventus midfielder Nicolo Fagioli was being investigated for using illegal gambling platforms and betting on football matches. He admitted to investigators in Turin that he had betted on illegal platforms but he denied betting on matches involving his own teams. He immediately aided the investigation as best he could in the hopes of getting a reduced ban. He handed his phone over, which widened the investigation.

Corona spoke to Sport Italia (via Football Italia) and actually claimed that Juventus knew in the summer that Fagioli has a betting problem but opted not to report it to the authorities.

"Juventus knew about Fagioli from August 1, so much so that on the American tour they made up an excuse not to bring him, trying to clean him up," Corona said.

“They failed to report it to the judicial authorities, it’s a very serious offence, a relegation offence. I’m doing a clean investigation, I’m collaborating with justice. Organised crime is involved.”

Juventus released a statement on Friday to say that the club "immediately and promptly contacted the FIGC Federal Prosecutor's Office".

After his cooperation with the prosecutors and desire to get help for his betting addiction, the FIGC handed Fagioli a 12-month ban with five months suspended, and he was fined £10,850. He is also going to have therapy for his gambling problem.

Fagioli's comments to the prosecutor were reported by Tuttosport (translation from Juvefc.com) and they told an incredibly serious and worrying story. He began by saying: "At first you bet because you have a lot of free time, you train in the morning and then you play to win to help the Boredom. Sandro Tonali suggests that I play on an illegal site. I saw him play and asked him what he was doing, he told me I could do it too because there was no trace of betting. And he made me register via an account at the site in question. The first bets are placed on tennis and then football events. I made bets on irregular sites.”

He was soon getting himself into serious debt, saying: "I had stopped sleeping at night. The more time passed, the more the debt haunted me. The money I had to have kept increasing and I thought I was playing just to try to recover. I'll break your legs, these debt collectors told me.”

After explaining that Juventus defender Federico Gatti and Genoa defender Radu Dragusin (formerly of Juventus) had lent him money, Fagioli admitted he is close to €3m in debt. Fans of Serie A may recall a game in April 2023 where Fagioli's mistake led to Juventus losing against Sassuolo and he was immediately subbed off, before bursting into tears on the bench.

"I had the worst period between March and April 2023, when I was so stressed and scared that during the Sassuolo-Juventus game I made a mistake and was replaced. As soon as I got out of the pitch I started crying in front of the cameras, thinking about my problems related to betting debts. I specify that I have stopped betting and that I intend to continue the path of care," he said.

Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Zaniolo - Newcastle and Aston Villa

As their involvement became public at the same time, we'll group them together. Both Sandro Tonali (23) and Nicolo Zaniolo (24) were in Luciano Spalletti's Italy squad to face Malta and England. They were then allowed to leave the camp at Coverciano, Italy's St George's Park if you like, in order to deal with the investigation.

It is said that the incidents relate to before they both joined Premier League clubs, Newcastle for Tonali and Aston Villa for Zaniolo. For Zaniolo, he was accused of betting on Roma's matches while sat on the bench during a Coppa Italia game last season.

They have been served with documents and are under an official police investigation. Both players had their tablets seized by investigators. Zaniolo's version of events is that he played blackjack on a site without knowing that it was illegal. He told investigators that he had placed bets on illegal sites, but never bet on football.

By the end of the week, Zaniolo will have spoken to the prosecutors, having been heard by the FIGC and the judiciary in Turin. He has still not admitted to doing anything other than playing blackjack on an illegal platform.

If he is found to have betted on football and lied about it, he could be in for a more serious ban than Fagioli's but only time will tell.

Corona's source has said that Zanioli's mother actually played an important role in his betting. She manages her son's affairs and apparently will have been aware of everything.

There was a twist in Tonali's tale when it emerged that he had in fact been betting on matches that he was playing in whilst on the books at AC Milan. He admitted to prosecutors that he bet on Milan matches but denied that he was involved in the matches.

90min has reported that Tonali may be banned for up to three years in line with FIFA regulations, but he is expected to receive a more lenient sentence after admitting his guilt and cooperating with investigators and prosecutors.

This admission from Tonali caught Newcastle by surprise and they released a statement on Wednesday which read: "Newcastle United can confirm that Sandro Tonali is subject to investigation by the Italian Prosecutor's Office and Italian Football Federation (FIGC) in relation to illegal betting activity.

"Sandro is fully engaging with the investigation and will continue to cooperate with all relevant authorities. He and his family will continue to receive the club's full support. Due to this ongoing process, Sandro and Newcastle United are unable to offer further comment at this time."

Nicola Zalewski - AS Roma

In a worryingly gimmicky fashion, Corona said that at 14:00 CEST on Friday, he would announce the fourth name that his mole had told him. It turned out to be 21-year-old AS Roma wing-back Nicola Zalewski.

Zalewski was born and grew up in Italy but he represents Poland at international level. Despite his age, he has been a regular for Roma for a couple of seasons, spending his entire career on the books at the club. He has made 79 senior appearances and is a player that Jose Mourinho seems to trust.

It has been reported by VoceGiallorossa.it that Zalewski is not overly concerned by being named, as he feels he is very distant from the actions that have landed others in hot water.

It seems he was right not to be concerned because the alleged informant of Corona later claimed that he made up the information about Zalewski. He appeared on the Cerbero Podcast without revealing his name and said (via Football Italia): "The information is false, I have no proof, I’m talking complete nonsense.

“What was I hoping for? He told me that we would meet in Rome and talk about the compensation, 20 thousand euros for information without backing. I accepted because of economic difficulty. But I understand that it is immoral.”

Zalewski is not under any sort of formal investigation at the time of writing.

Other names linked to the scandal

More names have been linked to the scandal over the past week but they are failing to gain any traction in a legal sense and it does feel like the situation is turning on Corona. Lazio defender Nicolo Casale was named by Corona but his lawyers have since refuted the claims and they are likley to sue for defamation and/or slander.

The same can be said for Zalewski who is contemplating legal action. Fellow Roma player Stephan El Shaarawy was also named by Corona but has also said via his lawyers that he has no involvement with gambling. Federico Gatti was mentioned by Corona but this seems more opportunistic than anything as Fagioli mentioned the Italian had lent him money.

Gatti was under the impression this money was for luxury watches rather than gambling debts and the Turin public prosecutor has confirmed that El Shaarawy, Gatti and Casale are not under investigation.

What sort of bans could the players receive?

Naturally, most fans want to know primarily about how long the players could be banned for should they be found guilty. There is no guarantee at this stage that anyone is going to get punished. The Federal Prosecutor's Office has opened a case against the players and the investigation needs to be carried out.

They want to determine if there has been a breach of the aforementioned Article 24. Within Article 24, it speaks of "disqualification for not less than three years", but La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that it can be reduced in the event of a plea bargain or collaboration of the player, which is what Fagioli did and he got a seven-month ban.

Different types of plea bargains can lead to reductions of 50% or a third. What is clear is that they are much more at risk in terms of footballing bans rather than criminal action. Fines will likely need to be paid if guilt is proven, but the real concern is being banned from football.

Even though the alleged offences took place in Italy, in the case of Tonali and Zaniolo, any ban would be in effect in the Premier League as prosecutors will request the bans spread to all competitions.

READ THE LATEST SERIE A NEWS, RUMOURS & GOSSIP