At the end of May 2012, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti proposed to ban all football matches in the country for several years. This statement shocked all fans of Italian football, because such an experiment could completely kill this sport in Italy.
Such a sensational statement is connected with the numerous scandals surrounding match-fixing, which have cast a shadow on Italian football for several years in a row. In such games with a coach, a player or several team members, they agree in advance about a certain outcome of the match. Most often for a certain amount of money.
In the last year alone, more than 30 people were arrested on suspicion of organizing such matches, and investigators of the case revealed suspicious results of 33 games. It is noteworthy that earlier suspicions fell on the players who participate in the teams of the lower division.
However, recently, the participants in the fixing matches have been identified in the Italian national team. Another scandal took place a week before the 2012 European Football Championship, held in Poland and Ukraine. This time, two players of the Italian national team at once fell under suspicion - Dominico Criscito, who plays for Zenit St. Petersburg, and Leonardo Bonucci. After which they, of course, were expelled from the Italian national team.
Italian media representatives believe that the match-fixing situation may lead to the fact that some Italian teams may lose their points in the fight for the championship, as well as be transferred to lower divisions. A similar situation has already happened with the football club "Juventus" in 2006.
According to Mario Monti, the ban on football matches in Italy for 2-3 years will help the country survive the match-fixing scandal. And also to avoid a situation where football becomes a way of fraudulent gain. Such a proposal is only of a formal nature, expressing only his opinion on the current situation in football.
However, the heads of the football clubs were hostile to the Prime Minister's statement. In their opinion, such a measure could not only leave many people associated with this sport out of work, but also ruin Italian football altogether.
