Carraro analysis of Calciopoli: ‘Juventus titles revoked, but Inter should not be rewarded’

ROME, ITALY – MAY 24: Franco Carraro attends the FIGC Special Olympics press conference on May 24, 2024 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images)

Former FIGC President Franco Carraro looks back over the Calciopoli scandal of 2006, insisting while it was right that Juventus were stripped of two Serie A titles, Inter should not have received one of them.

The chaos erupted in the final weeks of the 2005-06 campaign, when Italian football was turned on its head by an investigation into an influence campaign over referees, allegedly with then-Juventus director Luciano Moggi at the helm.

It prompted mass resignations and dismissals, several trials, and on a sporting level the demotion of Juventus to Serie B, as well as the revocation of their 2004-05 and 2005-06 Serie A titles.

While the first went unassigned, the 2005-06 Scudetto was handed to Inter, who had finished third in the table behind Juventus and Milan.

Carraro looks back on Calciopoli scandal

La Gazzetta dello Sport sat down with Carraro, who was the President of the Italian Football Federation at the time, to look back over that era.

“It did hurt me that people doubted my honesty, perhaps because I resigned to avoid embarrassment to the Federation for the start of the next season,” said the 85-year-old.

“I was cleared of all wrongdoing, but it still makes me suffer to this day. I am also left with bitter regret that it all started from my own big political error.”

The scandal revolved around former refereeing designators Pierluigi Pairetto and Paolo Bergamo, with their phone calls to many club directors intercepted by police.

“In 2004, I thought Bergamo and Pairetto should no longer be the designators, not because they had done badly, but simply some positions are best served when changing regularly. I called Pierluigi Collina to offer him the role, but he wasn’t ready to retire yet,” continued Carraro.

“A year later, in a television special on the History Channel dedicated to Calciopoli, I discovered Collina had told (Milan director of referee relations Leandro) Meani, who in turn told Bergamo and Pairetto. At that moment, they thought they could hold onto their jobs by leaning on Moggi. I made the mistake, I should’ve replaced them in 2004 with someone else,” explained Carraro.

“However, in 2004 we had two huge problems too. We had been eliminated from EURO 2004 in the group phase, then Napoli ran the very real risk of disappearing through bankruptcy. We couldn’t find anyone to save the club, even President Ciampi wanted to ask us what was going on, it was terrible! Then Aurelio De Laurentiis arrived…

“Anyway, it was good that in 2006 there was that investigation at the responsible clubs were punished. Juventus needed to have those titles revoked, because their directors had made errors, but the Inter one from 2006 should not have been reassigned to anyone. They both should’ve been left unassigned, as is tradition.”

There were numerous trials, both sporting and civil, around Calciopoli that dragged on for years.

The sporting sanctions saw Juventus demoted to Serie B with a nine-point penalty, with Fiorentina, Milan, Lazio, Reggina and Arezzo all docked points.

Despite common misconceptions, nobody in the Calciopoli scandal was ever charged or found guilty of match-fixing.

They were only accused of trying to influence the designation of certain referees to matches.