Top UEFA official being investigated by Rome prosecutors
Posted: Wednesday December 16, 1998 03:14 PM
ROME, Itlay (AP) -- Prosecutors notified Antonio Matarrese, a UEFA vice
president and former head of the Italian soccer federation, on
Wednesday that he is being investigated in connection with a probe
into the use of performance-enhancing substances in Italian soccer.
The formal notice of investigation - for allegedly playing a
role in hiding positive drug tests to help clubs or players -
arrived at Italian soccer federation headquarters just hours before
an exhibition match commemorating the federation's centennial, the
ANSA news agency reported.
"I respect the magistrate but when I see things like this I
don't know what to think. I don't see where the crime is,"
Matarrese said. "I don't understand what's happening, I feel like
I'm dreaming."
Matarrese resigned as head of the federation following Italy's
poor showing at the 1996 European Championships.
He is the latest in a series of top sports officials to be drawn
into the doping scandal that broke during the summer and has
led to the resignation of Italian Olympic Committee President Mario
Pescante and the closing of the country's drug-testing laboratory.
The Acqua Acetosa lab was shut down in October after it was hit
by allegations of improper handling of soccer doping tests and
hiding positive results.
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