Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 8y

Serie A games could face match-fixing investigation - report

An investigation into match-fixing in Italy may be expanded to include fixtures from Serie A, according to a report in La Repubblica on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, it was revealed how anti-mafia police in Italy had made 10 arrests in relation to a suspected manipulation of two Avellino fixtures in Serie B in 2014.

According to La Repubblica, a consortium of Italian bookmakers has prepared a dossier evidencing anomalous betting behaviour on five Serie A matches from the 2015-16 season.

Each of the five games involves Frosinone, whose defeat to Napoli has already attracted suspicion for the high number of bets placed on one of their players being sent off.

Frosinone have denied any wrongdoing or association with attempted match-fixing.

A statement on the club website on Wednesday read: "The club, and anyone associated with the club, firmly stress their lack of association with any incidents of sporting fraud or illicit betting transactions.

"Even though we will reject any charges, inferences or speculation about the club, we will offer our full cooperation to investigators, certain that their work will remove any suspicion from the matches in which Frosinone took part"

Strange betting trends in Frosinone's 4-2 defeat to AC Milan, 4-0 loss at Genoa, a 2-1 win over Verona and both defeats to Napoli this season have also been registered and will now be passed on to the authorities for further investigation.

Bets on heavy defeats for Frosinone were much higher than would normally be expected, according to Italian bookmakers, while Frosinone's 5-1 defeat at home to Napoli attracted more bets than any other fixture in Serie A all season.

In-game bets on Frosinone beating Verona reached a peak late on in the game, moments before they scored the winning goal.

^ Back to Top ^