Scandals & Feuds ·
Criscito Left Out of Euro 2012 Squad After Police Search
Italy’s training camp was searched on 28 May 2012 as Mauri was arrested and Conte investigated. Criscito denied wrongdoing, and the prosecutor stressed that an investigation was not a guilty judgment.
Police reached Italy’s national-team training base at Coverciano, near Florence, early on 28 May 2012, less than two weeks before the European Championship began. Officers searched defender Domenico Criscito’s room and informed him that he was under investigation in a match-fixing inquiry. He was not arrested. He was then left out of Italy’s tournament squad.
The search was part of a wider operation that brought the arrest of Lazio captain Stefano Mauri and an investigation into Juventus coach Antonio Conte over alleged wrongdoing during his previous job at Siena. At Coverciano, two police cars arrived shortly before 6.30am and left more than two hours later. Criscito’s home in Genoa was also searched.
Criscito, then playing for Zenit St Petersburg, had been included in coach Cesare Prandelli’s provisional 32-man squad. Prosecutors alleged that he had been photographed at a restaurant with match-fixing suspects during his time as a Genoa player. He denied wrongdoing. “I have nothing to do with this,” he said. “I was only out for dinner with some Genoa fans.”
Cremona prosecutor Roberto Di Martino drew a boundary around the action at the training camp: it concerned Criscito, not other national-team players at that point. He also distinguished the notification from a finding of guilt. “The notification of an impending investigation is a tool we have, but not a guilty judgment,” he said. Authorities had taken no action to prevent Criscito from travelling; Di Martino said he could play at the Euros.
The football decision was different. Criscito did not take part in Italy’s training session and was left out of the final 23-man group. Italy officials said all parties had agreed he would not go to the tournament so that he could clear his name. The exclusion followed the investigation; it was not a criminal judgment against him.
Elsewhere, Mauri was accused of sporting fraud. Police also arrested former Genoa midfielder Omar Milanetto, then with Padova. The arrests formed part of an inquiry into the 2010–11 fixtures between Lazio and Genoa, and Lecce and Lazio. Investigators alleged that players had accepted money to manipulate matches for betting interests. Those were allegations, not adjudicated findings.
Conte’s home in Turin was searched. His investigation concerned his time at Siena, not wrongdoing by Juventus. His lawyer, Antonio De Rencis, denied that Conte had been involved in match-fixing, describing him as determined to prove that he had nothing to do with the allegations.
For Criscito, the day ended with an assurance of belief but no tournament place. The federation’s Demetrio Albertini said the decision had been agreed between Prandelli and the federation, and that the defender had expressed concern about the repercussions for the team and dressing room. “He explained some things to me,” Albertini said, “and I believe his version and in his innocence.”