Atalanta penalty upheld
ByReuters
Updated 19/08/2011 at 20:02 GMT
Atalanta defender Thomas Manfredini has had a three-year ban for involvement in alleged match-fixing lifted but the promoted Serie A club failed to overturn a six-point penalty, the Italian Football Federation said on its website.
Thomas Manfredini, Atalanta (2008)
Image credit: PA Sport
The FIGC's federal justice court upheld a 3-1/2 year ban on Atalanta captain and former Italy midfielder Cristiano Doni along with a five-year exclusion from football-related activity for retired Lazio and Italy forward Giuseppe Signori.
Of the 14 others suspended for between one and five years in the original sentence imposed by the FIGC on August 9 only Ravenna president Gianni Fabbri was cleared by the appeal court.
Ravenna, who were expelled from the Lega Pro first division (third tier), will now play in Serie D which is the top level of non-professional football in Italy.
Lo Spezia's one-point penalty was overturned while fellow Lega Pro first division side Benevento had their original nine-point penalty reduced to six points.
Atalanta's punishment will take effect for the coming season, meaning they will start with minus six points when Serie A kicks off at the end of this month.
They are odds-on favourites for relegation.
The sporting suspensions follow a criminal investigation into a betting scam which had initially centred on 18 games in Serie B and Italy's lower divisions.
Police said they had found evidence of an organised system among former and current footballers, sports betting operators and others to manipulate the results of a number of matches.
They said bets worth tens of thousands of euros, and in some cases hundreds of thousands, had been placed on matches.
The investigation was triggered by a Serie B match in Cremona last season which aroused suspicions that led to a wider probe.
Serie A side Chievo had avoided a points penalty after paying a fine following a plea bargain earlier in the process.
Italian soccer had only just recovered from a 2006 match-fixing scandal which led to Juventus being demoted to Serie B.
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