Minister for Sport Andrea Abodi supports the decision to send Sandro Tonali and Nicolò Zaniolo home from the Italy camp after an investigation into illegal betting. ‘We must not look the other way.’
The investigation had already begun this week into Juventus midfielder Nicolò Fagioli, who it seems had handed himself in to the sporting and civil authorities for betting using illegal websites.
Newcastle midfielder Tonali and Aston Villa forward Zaniolo were added to the investigation today, formally interviewed by police at the Coverciano training ground, where Italy are preparing for EURO 2024 qualifiers against Malta and England.
A statement from the FIGC confirms both are released from international duty and are expected to fly back to England tomorrow.
“There is the most decisive match of all, which is that of fair and correct behaviour off the field,” Minister for Sport Abodi told reporters.
“The credibility of the football system is more important than some qualifying games. It sounds painful, but that is the truth.
“Taking into account that gambling addiction is not just a football issue, but a social pathology, it is opportune to send the lads home, also to protect them.”
Under the current rules, players are not allowed to bet on any football match or competition anywhere in the world, regardless of whether they are involved in that league.
According to the allegations made by Fabrizio Corona, Zaniolo faces the worst accusations of betting on Roma in the Coppa Italia when he was still in the squad.
“This is not a phenomenon we under-estimated, but perhaps we didn’t look into it deeply enough,” continued Minister Abodi.
“Something had already emerged on Fagioli, but with the others the first we heard of it was today. We need to respect the work done by the investigation and also understand the dimension of this phenomenon of betting.
“When I was President of Serie B for seven years, we had initiatives in first teams and youth academies to explain the risks of match-fixing and gambling addiction. We will face this together, even taking painful decisions.”
Inevitably, it is an ugly image for Italian football to see police interview players at their training camp ahead of EURO 2024 qualifiers.
“From this situation, we must take the opportunity and not turn our backs.”
More Italian drama, I need to stop watching this garbage. The fans are constantly punished for the sake of headlines. Why not wait until these 2 games are over instead of disrupting everything.
Italians sh**t themselves in the foot again. Hopefully you’ll miss out on next Euro! Karma is right around the corner!
@Ale hopefully you will stop obsessing and hating on Italy.