NOT ALWAYS BEATIFUL

Football has battled fixing taint for long. Here are some instances.

Marseille’s ugly title

In 1992-93, Marseille, who won a fifth straight domestic title, became the first French team to win the Champions League. Later it turned out that the club had bribed rivals en route the Ligue 1 title. They were stripped of the league title but kept the European trophy.

The Calciopoli Scandal

Match-fixing had for long been a big concern in Italy. But in 2006, it engulfed Italian football. Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina were found to have influenced referees in their matches. Juve were demoted to Serie B and were stripped of their Serie A titles of 2004 and 2005.

Metalist, Fenerbahce

In 2013, Uefa banned Ukraine club Metalist Kharkiv from Champions League and Turkey’s Fenerbahce from the Europa League and next season’s CL after the teams were found guilty of fixing their domestic games. The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the ruling after appeals were lodged by the clubs.

The Scommessopoli

In 2012, Juventus manager Antonio Conte was suspended for 10 months for his role in the ‘Scommessopoli’ fixing scandal. He was suspended for not reporting a sporting fraud in 2010, during his time at AC Siena. Italian police also arrested 19 players, including Lazio captain Stefano Mauri.