ROME, July 4 (Reuters) - Five players have been charged over alleged match-fixing in last season's home and away Serie A fixtures between Atalanta and relegated Livorno, Italy's
football federation (FIGC) said on Friday.
Atalanta's Gian Paolo Bellini and former Livorno captain
David Balleri have been charged with seeking to fix the results
of the games on Dec 23, which ended in a 1-1 draw, and May 4,
which Atalanta won 3-2, the FIGC said.
Livorno brothers Emanuele and Antonio Filippini, along with
team mate Alessandro Grandoni, have also been reported by the
federation's prosecutor to the national disciplinary commission
for a failure to inform the authorities about the events.
The two clubs were also reported to the commission over the
behaviour of their players.
'I don't think there was any type of agreement at all,'
Luigi Del Neri, the coach of Bergamo-based Atalanta, was quoted
as saying by La Gazzetta dello Sport's website. 'Atalanta played to win, as always.'
Italian soccer has only just got over the 2006 match-fixing
scandal, which led to Juventus being relegated to Serie B and AC
Milan, Lazio, Fiorentina and Reggina being deducted league
points.
Juventus, whose former general manager Luciano Moggi was
accused of being at the centre of attempts to secure compliant
referees for some teams' games, won promotion back to Serie A at
the first attempt and finished third last season to win a place
in the Champions League qualifiers.
