Napoli charged over alleged match-fixing

Napoli have been charged over alleged match-fixing in a game against Sampdoria on the final day of the 2009-10 season, the Italian football federation prosecutor said in a statement yesterday.

The club, their former third choice goalkeeper Matteo Gianello and ex-footballer Silvio Giusti will go before the federation’s disciplinary committee after information was passed from a criminal investigation in Naples.

Sampdoria won the game and entered the preliminary stage of the Champions League.

Current Napoli defenders Paolo Cannavaro and Gianluca Grava have also been charged for failing to report the alleged fix.

The development is part of a wide-ranging criminal and sporting probe into illegal betting and match-fixing in Italy which have already led to several arrests and bans.