Serie A was torn apart and Juventus disgraced when the Calciopoli scandal rocked the world in 2006, staining Italian football just as the country’s national team were celebrating winning the World Cup.
Juventus hero Fabio Cannavaro lifted the trophy for the fourth time in the Azzurri’s history in Berlin after a controversial victory over France, but their historic triumph was completely overshadowed by the chaos ensuing in Serie A as the country’s biggest clubs were taken down by match-fixing claims.
The scandal centred around several top-flight clubs, including fellow giants AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio, as police uncovered hundreds of intercepted phone calls detailing club hand-picked referees for their matches. Points deductions and heavy fines were slammed on the three aforementioned clubs.
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But Juventus were left humiliated when the club’s managing director Luciano Moggi was identified as the ringleader – with an almighty punishment then dished out to the Champions League stalwarts.
On this day 20 years ago, The Old Lady were stripped of their 2004/05 and 2005/06 Scudettos and relegated to the second division, Serie B. Moggi was eventually handed a lifetime ban from Italian football for his involvement.
Moggi, Italian football federation (FIGC) president Franco Carraro and vice-president Innocenzo Mazzini ended up resigning from their roles.
Roberto Beccantini, who worked as a reporter for La Stampa newspaper in Italy 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.
“And do not forget that 2006 was the year of the World Cup in Germany. Many of the politicians, journalists and showmen decided to cheer against our national team.”
Cannavaro quit the club to join Real Madrid, starting an exodus including Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Patrick Vieira joining Inter Milan for a combined fee of £23million, Emerson Ferreira joining Cannavaro at the Santiago Bernabeu for a total of £13.7m, Lillian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta heading to Barcelona for £13m, and Adrian Mutu joining Fiorentina for £5.5m.
But under the new management of Didier Deschamps, who replaced Fabio Capello after he too walked out of the club to join Real Madrid, the likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Pavel Nedved, David Trezeguet and Alessandro Del Piero walked out in front of 10,000 fans at the now-liquidated Rimini – being held to a humbling 1-1 draw by 10-men, having started the season on minus nine points.
Juventus did find their feet in the league, winning the next eight games consecutively and wrapping up the league title just games to spare. The Bianconeri won the league by six points from Napoli, even with the nine point deducted penalty. Juventus were originally slapped with a 30-point penalty but that was reduced on appeal – had that initial deduction stood, they would have had to have played a play-off against now Serie D side Piacenza.
The Turin giants returned to Serie A and had to wait four years before winning the title again as they soon embarked on an era of dominance – winning nine straight titles between 2012 and 2020.
While some argue the punishment wasn’t strong enough as Juventus returned to the glory days just six years after the Calciopoli scandal, football hasn’t forgotten and it’s something their fans have to live with.
Even 12 years on, Juventus fans were left furious by an article published on Manchester United’s official website ahead of the two clubs meeting in the Champions League group stage.
The piece, which was later removed by the Red Devils after an online furore in 2018, was titled ‘The history of Manchester United v Juventus’. It delved into the long-standing relationship between the two European giants, offering some background on the Turin-based team.
However, one particular section of the article ruffled the feathers of Juventus supporters, leading to a flurry of complaints on social media and ultimately, the removal of the article.
The controversial passage read: “One of the disparaging nicknames given to ‘the Old Lady’ by tifosi from rivals like Fiorentina, Inter and Napoli is ‘Rubentus’.
“This comes from the Italian rubare, meaning ‘to steal’, and derives from the Bianconeri’s once-murky reputation culminating in the Calciopoli scandal that saw them stripped of the 2005 title and relegated to Serie B as punishment for a series of match-fixing allegations.”
Following the publication of the article, a thread sprang up on Reddit where fans expressed their displeasure over the use of the derogatory nickname.
One fan commented: “Shocking probably isn’t the right word but it is inappropriate. I’d expect to see something like this on a fan run blog not the official website.”
Another chimed in: “It’s not just the way it’s insulting to Juve, but how it seems to smear all the Italian teams, and even somewhat the country as a whole.”
Another fan commented: “Just because it might be true doesn’t make it appropriate to write on an official website. I wouldn’t expect a Juventus article about Man United to discuss dirty English tactics and hooliganism in the 1980s.”
In response to the uproar, United took down the contentious piece from their official website. The Red Devils were beaten 1-0 by a Cristiano Ronaldo goal at Old Trafford, but a late Juan Mata free-kick and an own goal by Leonardo Bonucci in added time saw United shock Juventus in Turin.
That defeat was compounded by Jose Mourinho infamously cupping his ear to the home supporters, sparking anger among the Juventus players.
It’s now two decades on from Calciopoli and the impact of the scandal still lingers. Italian football lost its huge commercial deals and there hasn’t been a Champions League winner from Italy since Inter in 2010 under the legendary Jose Mourinho.