More than seven years after the calciopoli scandal engulfed Italian football, Luciano Moggi, the former general manager of Juventus, is still fighting to clear his name. He tells Kevin Azzopardi that the devastating impact calciopoli had on vulnerable families has fuelled his determination to rebut the accusations

For many Juventus fans, Luciano Moggi will always be ‘il direttore’ (the director).

Handed a life ban by the Italian football federation (FIGC) and sentenced to five years and four months in prison for his role in calciopoli, Moggi drew universal condemnation for his purported underhand manoeuvres in trying to gain an unfair advantage for Juventus by influencing referee selectors, charges he strenuously denies.

While the followers of Juve’s rivals revelled in the demise of their chief nemesis, the Bianconeri faithful were hit hard by calciopoli as their club was stripped of the 2005 and 2006 Serie A titles and demoted to the Serie B in the summer of 2006.

In spite of all the accusations and criticism levelled at Moggi and the sanctions imposed on the club, many Juve supporters are adamant that calciopoli was born out of envy for their success and the power wielded by Moggi.

This unwavering support for Moggi was evident last Saturday when a sizeable number of Juventus fans gave the club’s former general manager a rousing reception when he visited the premises of the Juve Club Vero Amore 1975 to launch the book ‘30 sul campo... tutta l’altra verita su calciopoli (30 on the field... all the other truth about calciopoli), written by his defence lawyer Maurilio Prioreschi.

Many had arrived early to secure a seat ahead of a question-and-answer session with Moggi.

Their patience was rewarded as Moggi’s straightforward and elaborate answers provided an insight into his modus operandi during his eventful 12-year tenure as general manager of Juventus.

During the frank discussion, which lasted well over an hour, Moggi expounded on calciopoli, insisting all along that the charges had been disproved as recorded telephone calls traced by Nicola Penta, the legal consultant of his defence team, showed that Juve not only didn’t have an exclusive relationship with the referee selectors but that officials of other clubs tried to influence referees to undermine the Bianconeri.

“I’m very satisfied to be here,” Moggi told The Sunday Times of Malta after his meeting with the fans. “The reception was great as I said during the meeting (with the fans).”

While Moggi’s first visit to Malta attested to his good relationship with the Juve Club Vero Amore, particularly vice-president Joe Fenech, his presence here also underlined the club’s backing for the former club official.

“It’s an organised club run by people who substantially will always be close to me because I’m close to them,” Moggi said before inviting Fenech to visit him in Turin.

During his trophy-laden stint as Juventus general manager, Moggi was regarded as something of a cult hero by the supporters, a shrewd football judge and a master dealer in the transfer market. But his fall from grace after calciopoli threatened to sour his relationship with Juventus, especially after the club’s hierarchy sought to distance itself from Moggi.

At last week’s discussion, Moggi laid the blame squarely on the Elkanns and club lawyer Cesare Zaccone, accusing them of failing to stand up for the club and himself.

Yet, Moggi’s name remains synonymous with Juventus and the appointment of Andrea Agnelli as club president a few years back helped to heal the wounds.

“It’s a club where I spent some nice years,” Moggi said of Juventus.

“Now the presidency of Juventus is occupied by Andrea Agnelli who was 12 years with us together with his father (Umberto Agnelli).

“He’s more than a friend, so we have a great desire to see that he can achieve the targets that he deserves.”

‘An attempt to destroy insurmountable obstacles’ was how Moggi described calciopoli which, according to Prioreschi, was instigated by Franco Baldini, the current football director of Tottenham Hotspur who held a grudge against Moggi.

“That’s correct,” Moggi replied when reminded of his definition of calciopoli.

“There are two things. The first was the death of l’avvocato e il dottore (Gianni Agnelli) which significantly weakened Juventus.

“They capitalised on this with the intent of demolishing this squad and club which, without money, was doing important things for themselves and also for the Italian national team.”

The calciopoli scandal revolved around transcripts of phone taps which appear to show key figures in Italian football, mainly Moggi, but also Fiorentina owners Andrea and Diego Della Valle and Lazio president Claudio Lotito, putting pressure on referees to favour certain clubs.

Moggi, who resigned after Juve secured the title, was at the centre of the scandal with prosecutors accusing the Turin club of enjoying an exclusive relationship with the referee selectors.

Together with Antonio Giraudo, the former Juventus chairman, Moggi was also charged with holding referee Gianluca Paparesta and his two assistants against their will after the match officials were allegedly locked in the dressing room after Juve’s 2-1 defeat at Reggina in 2004.

In denying the accusations, Moggi insisted that his defence team have uncovered several other taped telephone calls which prove that officials of rival clubs tried to influence referee selectors with the aim of undermining Juventus.

“I think the public prosecutors didn’t study this process thoroughly or otherwise, they didn’t think that those who remained inside would go to look for the intercepted calls,” Moggi observed.

We always tried to protect our squad whereas the intercepted phone calls showed that the others were more interested in us

“They also said, very cunningly, that we defended ourselves by saying that everyone was doing it (trying to influence referee selectors) but we never said this. We only said that we never did the things the others were doing and that’s certainly different.

“Then, we went on to prove what we were saying via the recorded telephone calls...”

“That you were not acting like the others?” I pointed out.

“Yes. We always tried to look after our club, the strengths of our squad whereas the intercepted phone calls showed that the others were more interested in us.”

The 76-year-old has clearly gone to great lengths to fight the allegations but insisted that he’s doing this not only for his sake but also for the other families who have been affected badly by calciopoli.

“I gave a lot to football but football has given a lot to me,” Moggi said.

“Therefore I didn’t encounter big economic problems but I’ve seen families destroyed after calciopoli. I’ve seen families, young referees who had nothing to do with it, reduced to a bad state, without a job.

“And it is for this, egoistically also for me, but for them that I’ve done all this, the search for other recorded telephone calls because it’s unfair to destroy families with the fantasies of who want to inculcate in the affairs of others with things that don’t exist.”

Besides his conviction by the Naples court in 2011, a sentence Moggi has appealed, the Siena native was also hit with a lifetime ban by the FIGC.

Asked which of the two sanctions hurt him most, Moggi replied: “Neither because both stated that the championship was regular and that there was no altered match.

“It is pertinent to ask... why was I condemned?

“They spoke about a system but we showed that this system was orchestrated by others not us.”

During his meeting with the fans at the Juve Club Vero Amore, Moggi recalled a number of match episodes and refereeing decisions which, he claimed, unjustly penalised Juventus.

“We had our eyes open because they wanted to cheat us,” Moggi responded when asked if he felt that he and Juventus were the victims of a conspiracy.

Calciopoli may have sullied Moggi’s reputation but he insisted that support was never lacking during this tumultuous period.

“Everyone (remained close),” Moggi said. “I didn’t have any particular difficulties, maybe I have more friends than before, bar the fans of the (Juve’s) rival clubs.”

“I’ve forgotten to mention one thing,” he added.

“There was a sporting judge in the federation’s youth sector, lawyer (Giuseppe) Benedetto, who, after calciopoli broke out, tendered his resignation and declared: ‘I’m ashamed of you. I want to have a clear conscience and therefore I’m leaving the federation’.

“This is a lawyer who was in the federation.

“Enzo Biagi (the renowned Italian journalist who passed away in 2007) once said: ‘Of all the scandals that have hit Italy, did they target Juventus and Moggi to allow the politicians to forget the other important things.’ This is what Biagi said before the trial had even started.”

Moggi is convinced that Juventus received hefty punishments from the FIGC because they failed to defend themselves properly. He blamed Zaccone, the club’s lawyer, for this.

“First and foremost, Zaccone who claimed to have read everything in a week whereas it took us four years to go through all the documents,” Moggi observed.

“In October, I will participate in the assembly of the shareholders and I want to see what Zaccone will tell me when I show him the intercepted telephone calls he claimed to have seen but which in actual fact he didn’t.”

Looking at football from the outside, Moggi believes that the game has changed significantly in the last years.

“Football has changed,” he said. “It has changed in the sense that there seems to be more emphasis on the agonistic element than the technical aspect.

“Italy is still behind in terms of a positive evolution to challenge for the World Cup etc but Prandelli is doing well, therefore there is hope.”

Juventus have been to hell and back in the last seven years but they’ve shown remarkable strength in the face of adversity.

Under the guidance of former midfielder Antonio Conte, Juventus have re-asserted their status as a dominant force in Italian football, claiming back-to-back Serie A titles in the last two seasons. They also reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League last season.

“Juventus is the most organised club,” Moggi said.

“It’s the only Italian club that has its own stadium and the only one that carries out its business using rational and professional methods, treating the club like a company.

“Their efforts are paying off both in the championship and from an administrative point of view.”

No regrets

Asked if, with the benefit of hindsight, he regretted not doing certain things differently during his 12-year association with Juventus, Moggi replied: “No. As far as Juventus is concerned, I have defended it with all my strengths.

“With regards to the economy, I tried not to spend much to help the shareholder save money.

“In terms of success, we won a lot.”

Apart from the trophies won by Juventus under his leadership, Moggi is also remembered for pulling off some of the most high-profile transfers in the history of football.

He’s the man who signed French great Zinedine Zidane for Juventus from Bordeaux before selling him to Real Madrid in 2001 for a then world record fee of €75 million.

Other big names who joined Juventus during Moggi’s time include Fabio Cannavaro, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Pavel Nedved.

Speaking about the deal that saw Juventus sign Cannavaro from rivals Inter in 2004, Moggi said the perception at the time was that he had prised the former Italy defender away from the Nerrazzurri but that was not the case.

“It was said that we ‘stole’ Cannavaro from Inter but that’s not true,” he told the fans.

“For reasons known only to them (Inter), they wanted to sell him.”

Invited to recount an untold anecdote, Moggi recalled the sequence of events that led to Nedved’s transfer from Lazio in 2001.

“I had already reached an agreement with Lazio to sign Nedved,” he said.

“I received a phone call from Nedved who told me that he was not keen to leave Lazio because his family was settled in Rome and he enjoyed playing golf there.

It was said that we ‘stole’ Cannavaro from Inter but that’s not true. They wanted to sell him

“I told him ok but after a few days I called him. I told Nedved that there was also a nice golf course in Turin where the Agnellis played. I told him: ‘Let’s do one thing. I will send a private jet to Rome so you can come to see Turin in secret.

“He accepted. When he arrived at the airport, he was greeted by all the media of Turin because I had informed them. Obviously, the news reached Rome and they started to criticise him... Nedved eventually joined Juventus.”

For the time being, Moggi has no plans to revive his association with football, if he ever has the opportunity to do so, as he’s focusing all his energies on his appeal against the Naples sentence.

“The most important thing now is to correct the situation because there is no reason for it to exist,” he said. “After that, we will see.”