History of Juventus F.C. - The "Calciopoli" Scandal

The "Calciopoli" Scandal

Since 2004, Fabio Capello had taken over the club, and lead them to two more Serie A titles. But during May 2006, Juventus were one of four clubs (along with AC Milan, Fiorentina, and Lazio) linked to a Serie A match fixing scandal. At the center of the accusations was Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi, who was accused of influencing referees and even the false imprisonment of one; no players were accused of any wrongdoing. Moggi along with two other members of the board resigned on May 13. The clubs involved were ordered to stand trial, around this time Gianluca Pessotto almost lost his life when he fell from a 4th story window, the media suggested that it could have been a suicide attempt because of the stress of trial.

Manager Capello, left for Real Madrid before the verdict had been handed out. FIGC prosecutor Stefano Palazzi called the four clubs to be thrown out of Serie A and that Juventus have their last two title's stripped. The sentences saw Juventus stripped of two titles, and relegated to Serie B for the first time in their history. The club was also docked 30 points for the 2006-2007 season, which was reduced to 17 points and finally 9 points after an appeal. Numerous players left the club, including European Footballer of the Year and 2006 World Cup winning captain, Fabio Cannavaro, Lillian Thuram, Gianluca Zambrotta, Patrick Vieira and Zlatan Ibrahimović, the latter two players sold to rivals Inter for €34.3 million. However, some highly rated players remained loyal; Gianluigi Buffon, captain Alessandro Del Piero, Pavel Nedvěd, Mauro Camoranesi and David Trézéguet.