Match-fixing scandal hits Italy again

Seven people were detained and three put under house arrest, and others investigated on Monday as a fresh match-fixing scandal erupted in the Italian football, local media said.

Carabinieri military police in Naples, a city in southern Italy, suspected that affiliates of the local mafia Camorra corrupted players to influence the results of two matches in the second tier Serie B in the first half of 2014.

Armando Izzo, a defender for Serie A Genoa who had recently been chosen to play for the national team, was also put under investigation in the probe, according to Italy's leading sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Investigators suspected that Izzo may have been used as a "contact". They said Camorra offered large sums of money to corrupt the players and influence the Modena vs Avellino and Avellino vs Reggina matches, the results of which were Modena 1 Avellino 0 and Avellino 3 Reggina 0.

Acireale midfielder Francesco Millesi and former player Luca Pini were also reportedly being investigated for allegedly associating with the criminal organization over the two matches.

The Italian football in recent years has faced several surges of match fixing, mafia infiltration and tax evasion scandals, with dozens of teams involved and a number of managers, coaches, players and investors arrested or placed under investigation.

Investigators have repeatedly said the matches-fixing are far from being solved in Italy and pronged in foreign countries as well. Enditem