FIGC dismisses Venzia-Bari case
Posted: Thursday February 25, 1999 02:29 PM
ROME (AP) -- An Italian soccer federation judge followed the lead
of a Venetian prosecutor on Thursday, ruling there was no
match-fixing in an Italian Serie A match between Venezia and Bari
last month.
Carlo Porceddu, the highest judge in the Italian federation
(FIGC), dismissed the case saying he could not find any evidence of
misdeeds.
The Jan. 24 match had been investigated following allegations
that there were attempts by the players to pre-determine the
result.
Porceddu's decision reflected the conclusions of prosecutor
Carlo Broli, who headed a separate inquiry by a Venice court last
week.
It also ended any threat of penalizing Venezia and Bari in the
Serie A standings.
Bari and the Venezia are separated by one point -- in 10th and
11th place respectively -- in the 18-team league.
The match, which Venezia won 2-1 on a last-minute goal by
Brazilian forward Tuta, had been investigated after several TV and
newspaper commentators questioned the validity of the result.
They noted that the two clubs did not appear to be trying to
score late in the game and that on-field reactions of most Venezia
players were muted after Tuta's key goal.
Tuta, who had entered as a substitute with 12 minutes left, was
insulted by some Bari players as he walked to the dressing rooms at
the end of the match.
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