The match fixing scandal

The results of the match fixing scandal have come out. According to UEFA.com

Serie A champions Juventus have been relegated to Serie B along with ACF Fiorentina and S.S. Lazio at the conclusion of the Italian tribunal into sporting fraud, while AC Milan will start the coming season with a 15-point deficit in the top flight…Fiorentina and Lazio have been relegated too after tonight’s verdict by a federal commission. The Florence club, who finished fourth in Serie A in May, will start the 2006/07 season with minus 12 points, while sixth-placed Lazio join Fiorentina in dropping down a tier and have a seven-point penalty for the new term.

As for Juventus

Italian magistrates decided to demote the Turin giants to the country’s second division while also giving them a 30-point handicap for the impending Serie B campaign. In addition, Juventus have been stripped of their last two league titles, from 2005 and 2006.

AC Milan stay in Serie A but with a deduction of 15 points, all will be:

barred from competing in Europe – Juventus, Milan and Fiorentina the Champions League; Lazio the Uefa Cup…Inter, Roma, Chievo and Palermo, who finished third, fifth and seventh and eighth are in line to take the places of the penalised clubs in next season’s Champions League.

More at BBC Sport.

Also see the response of Juve’s Chairman Giovanni Cobolli Gigli.

It will be interesting to see if the top players at AC Milan will stay at the club, despite the handicap in the league and no prospect of Champions League football. I should think that most would stay but there has been strong links between Gattuso and Manchester United. However I expect a mass exodus from the other demoted Serie A clubs.