Ex-Juve director Giraudo sentenced to three-year jail term

(GSM) – Former director Antonio Giraudo of Turin based giants Juventus, has been sentenced to three years in prison for his role in Italy’s 2006 football match-fixing scandal.

Giraudo, already banned from football by a 2006 sports tribunal, has been found guilty of sporting fraud and conspiracy in the criminal trial linked to the affair, which was christened the name ‘Calciopoli’.

Juventus were demoted to the second division in 2006 as a result of the scandal, which involved clubs procuring favourable referees for matches, but are now back as one of the strongest teams in the top flight Serie A.

Referees Tiziano Pieri and Paolo Dondarini have been sentenced to 28 months and two years in prison respectively while Tullio Lanese, the former head of the referees’ union, has received a two-year jail term.

Seven referees and assistants, who like the other four had opted for a fast track trial, have been acquitted.

The guilty four are unlikely to serve their sentences because of the appeals process and a broad pardon for non-violent offences committed before 2006.

Former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi was among those to request a normal trial which is currently taking place.

Prosecutors in Naples, who had asked for Giraudo to be given a five-year jail term, instigated a criminal case in the wake of the punishments handed down by the sports tribunal.