On this day 20 years ago, Juventus were relegated to Serie B and stripped of their 2004/05 and 2005/06 Scudettos as punishment for their central role in the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal. The scandal erupted in 2006, tarnishing Italian football just as the national team celebrated winning the World Cup in Germany.
The Scandal Unfolds
Calciopoli involved several top Serie A clubs, including Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina, and Lazio. Police uncovered hundreds of intercepted phone calls revealing that club officials had hand-picked referees for their matches. Juventus managing director Luciano Moggi was identified as the ringleader, leading to a lifetime ban from Italian football. Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Franco Carraro and vice-president Innocenzo Mazzini also resigned.
Roberto Beccantini, a reporter for La Stampa during the scandal, told the BBC: "The story was like the eruption of a volcano. Juventus is a club that divides Italy more than any other, and one that always had power with the Agnellis as owners. Also, it involved Moggi."
Punishments and Player Exodus
Juventus were hit with a 30-point penalty for the 2006/07 Serie B season, later reduced to nine points on appeal. The club was also stripped of two league titles. AC Milan, Fiorentina, and Lazio received points deductions and fines. The scandal triggered a mass exodus of star players from Juventus, including Fabio Cannavaro, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Patrick Vieira, Emerson, Lilian Thuram, and Gianluca Zambrotta.
Cannavaro joined Real Madrid, starting a wave of transfers. Ibrahimovic and Vieira moved to Inter Milan for a combined £23 million, while Emerson joined Cannavaro at Real Madrid for £13.7 million. Thuram and Zambrotta went to Barcelona for £13 million, and Adrian Mutu moved to Fiorentina for £5.5 million. Manager Fabio Capello also left for Real Madrid, replaced by Didier Deschamps.
Return to Serie A and Dominance
Despite the turmoil, Juventus won Serie B in 2006/07 with a six-point margin over Napoli, even with the nine-point deduction. The club returned to Serie A and, after a four-year wait, embarked on a period of unprecedented dominance, winning nine consecutive Serie A titles between 2012 and 2020.
However, the scandal's legacy persists. Italian football lost significant commercial deals, and no Italian club has won the Champions League since Inter Milan in 2010. The bitterness resurfaced in 2018 when Manchester United published an article on their official website referring to Juventus by the derogatory nickname "Rubentus," derived from the Italian word "rubare" (to steal). The article was removed after a fan backlash.
Long-Term Impact
Two decades on, Calciopoli remains a dark chapter in Italian football history. The scandal not only humiliated one of the sport's most storied clubs but also damaged the reputation of Serie A as a whole. While Juventus recovered to dominate domestically, the stain of match-fixing continues to haunt Italian football, with no Champions League success for over a decade.
