Euroscene: The scene is the referee's dressingroom at the Stadio Granilo, Reggio Calabria, deep in the south of Italy. Home side Reggina have just sprung a major surprise by beating, somewhat fortuitously, Italy's most famous club, Juventus.

Within minutes of the end of the game, Luciano Moggi, general director of Juventus, storms into the room, waving an angry finger at referee Gianluca Paparesta and shouting: "You're a disgrace, and that was a disgraceful decision not to give us that penalty. We're never very lucky with you, are we, Paparesta?".

Having said his piece, Moggi turned on his heels and stumped out, pausing however to lock the door from the outside, taking the key with him: "I shut that bloody ref into his room and took the keys with me to the airport. Let's see them get him out now, they'll have to knock down the door," commented Moggi later.

The above are just two of the more amusing snippets from the extensive phone tap transcripts that have rocked Italian football over the last 10 days. In what could yet be the biggest post-war scandal in European football - and we are not exaggerating - more than 40 people and some of the biggest clubs in Italy including Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio are under investigation from public prosecutors in Rome, Naples, Turin and Parma in relation to accusations of systematic, protracted match-fixing.

At the centre of the Naples section of the inquiry is Moggi, who along with Juventus CEO Antonio Giraudo, football federationl vice-president Innocenzo Mazzini, referee Massimo De Santis, and referee nominators, Paolo Bergamo and Pierluigi Pairetto, stands accused of forming a cupola or network of influence that, allegedly, "fixed" the 2004-2005 season from start to finish.

For the time being, the cupola are being investigated on charges of "criminal conspiracy with a view to sports fraud".

The fallout of this scandal has been serious. The Italian federation have withdrawn referee De Santis from the World Cup finals in Germany. The Agnelli family, owners of Juventus, have sacked the entire board of the club including Moggi and Giraudo. Football federation president Franco Carraro and his deputy, Mazzini, have resigned their posts.

By the end of the inquiry, those developments are likely to seem like chicken feed since not only are senior football executives threatened with lengthy bans but, above all, Juventus could yet find themselves relegated to the second division, Serie B.

Yesterday ought to have been a big day for Italian football, the day when Juventus celebrated the 29th title win of their glorious history and the day when national team coach Marcello Lippi named his squad for the World Cup finals. Instead, yesterday was a day when Italian football hung its head in shame, not even certain that Juventus, winners of the title on Sunday, will hold on to that title.

The Moggi phone taps make for disturbing reading. Via his cupola, he is seen to manipulate referees, refereeing appointments and even national team selections. He is heard to threaten Czech coach Zdenek Zeman, one of the few professionals who had the courage to criticise both him and Juventus. He tells Bergamo and Pairetto which referees should be promoted and which blocked. He rings Marcello Lippi, suggesting which players he might call up for a forthcoming World Cup qualifier. He even "advises" those TV commentators whose speciality is the slow-motion analysis of controversial incidents.

Where does the inquiry go from here? There are two answers. For a start, the football federationl's own enquiry will drag on all summer long. Indeed, the federation are already preparing to delay the start of next season until October. Secondly, there are the judicial investigations which could take much, much longer. (When Juventus got dragged into court on dope charges, the whole process took six years and furthermore is not over yet).

In the meantime, is Italian football left with any credibility? Perhaps a good performance from Italy at the World Cup finals might go some way to re-establishing that. Despite the fact Juventus goalkeeeper Gianluigi Buffon is also currently involved in a betting inquiry, coach Lippi has stuck by him, naming him in his 23 for Germany yesterday.

Buffon's call-up was the only question mark in a squad that was otherwise totally predictable with Roma captain Francesco Totti named, even though he is currently far from fully fit.

Equally predictable were the questions Lippi had to field yesterday about the Moggi scandal and his role in it: "I received calls from Moggi like I did from club directors up and down the country and I never felt under pressure from anyone. I never thought of resigning and I head off for Germany in a calm frame of mind."

Will Lippi's calm last? Watch this space.