Juventus midfielder Nicolò Fagioli has been suspended from all sporting activity for seven months for participating in sports betting, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) announced in a statement on Tuesday. The FIGC said Fagioli was sanctioned for engaging in betting on soccer matches, an activity banned for professional players, after admitting the facts and reaching a negotiated settlement.
The court said Fagioli’s sentence was officially 12 months, but it was reduced to seven because he accepted a treatment program to combat gambling addiction. Fagioli, 22, must also participate in “at least 10 public meetings spread over five months, within amateur sports associations and in the local football federation as well as in detoxification centers for gambling addictions,” specifies the FIGC.
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The player would face a three-year ban, but his sanction was reduced following an agreement with the FIGC disciplinary authorities and he demonstrated that he was taking serious measures to combat a gambling addiction. However , the agreement with Fagioli will immediately end and new disciplinary procedures will be initiated against him if he does not respect this program, the press release further underlines.
A rising star of Italian football since his return to Juve last year after a loan at Cremonese, Fagioli has one cap with Squadra Azzura. This is inevitably a hard blow for Juve, with whom he has played six matches this season. The Piedmontese club is also deprived of its star player Paul Pogba, whose positive doping test for testosterone in August was confirmed on October 6, and now exposes him to a four-year suspension.
The sanction is the first in an illicit betting scandal that erupted as the Italian national team prepared for two crucial Euro 2024 qualifying matches against Malta and England.
Besides Fagioli, his compatriots Sandro Tonali (Newcastle United) and Nicolò Zaniolo (Galatasaray) are in the eye of the storm. The two internationals were released from the European champions’ training camp last week after being questioned by the criminal prosecution for more than two hours. Alongside the FIGC investigation, criminal proceedings were initiated into the use of illegal gaming platforms allegedly linked to organized crime.