Antonella Paglialunga, director of Italian special branch Digos, has explained the inner workings of the Catania match-fixing scandal, labelled ‘Goal Trains’.
Seven arrests were made this morning in connection with the fixing of Serie B matches featuring Catania during the 2014-15 season, including that of Elefanti President Antonino Pulvirenti.
Antonella Paglialunga, director of Italian special branch Digos, has explained the inner workings of the Catania match-fixing scandal, labelled ‘Goal Trains’.
Seven arrests were made this morning in connection with the fixing of Serie B matches featuring Catania during the 2014-15 season, including that of Elefanti President Antonino Pulvirenti.
Paglialunga explained what the investigation has uncovered during a Press conference this morning, and the different roles played by the arrested parties.
“The investigation was born in the aftermath of the defeat to Virtus Entella, a loss that saw Catania plunge to the bottom of the table,” she said.
“The operation ‘Goal Trains’ derives from the language used by the parties concerned in which the ‘trains’ were the players to approach and the ‘arrival times’ were their shirt numbers.
“The modus operandi of the members was divided into two phases – a ‘conception’ phase that had President Pulvirenti at its summit and an ‘execution’ phase, with the delivery of the money needed to pay the player who was subject of corruption.
“Once President Pulvirenti got the ok from Giovanni Impellizzeri [another of the seven arrested], he gave the go-ahead.
“[Daniele] Delli Carri spoke with [Piero] Di Luzio, who he knew from their time together at Pescara, who in turn contacted [Fernando] Arbotti, a FIFA agent, who had knowledge that allowed him to approach the players.”