The magistrate leading the probe into alleged match fixing in Serie A has handed in his findings to the Football Association's prosecutor saying he had found corruption but Italian club football was not rotten to the core.
Francesco Borrelli, who headed the "Clean Hands" probe into political corruption in the early 1990s, handed over the results of six weeks of interviews with referees and officials from the Football Federation (FIGC) and leading clubs to Stefano Palazzi.
Top Serie A sides Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina are among the clubs under investigation. Borrelli's report was not expected to recommend specific sanctions, leaving it up to Palazzi to decide which clubs or individuals should be charged and stand trial by sporting authorities, Italian media said.
Trading in the shares of Juventus, considered to be at the heart of the scandal, were suspended due to heavy losses ahead of the report being handed over.
Palazzi is expected to order people to stand trial by Friday. Trials are due to start between June 26th and 27th, with a ruling coming between July 7th and 9th, on the eve of the World Cup final.
Borrelli told journalists as he left the FICG headquarters that his report was 180-190 pages long, but he gave no further details. However, he said it would be wrong to think Italian football was corrupt through and through.
"The football world is not rotten to the roots, it is rotten in some of its branches," he said.
The probe began last month after newspapers published transcripts of intercepted telephone conversations between former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi and Federation officials discussing refereeing appointments for matches.
The scandal, the biggest to hit Italian sport in more than 20 years, forced the resignations of former FIGC president Franco Carraro and the entire board of Juventus.
Moggi himself quit on the final day of the season after watching Juve wrap up their 29th Serie A title.
In addition to the probe, there are another five magistrates' investigations across the country.
In Naples, 41 people were placed under investigation on suspicion of "criminal association" and "sporting fraud" over allegations of match-rigging.
Their counterparts in Rome investigated sports management company GEA World, which is run by Moggi's son Alessandro, for "unfair competition with use of threats and violence".
In Turin, former Juventus CEO Antonio Giraudo was questioned and the houses of two of the club's top players - defender Fabio Cannavaro and striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic - were searched as part of a probe into false accounting in transfer dealings.
Meanwhile, magistrates in Parma and Milan opened investigations into illegal betting and market-rigging involving shares of Serie A club Lazio.
The FIGC investigation, however, will be the first to deliver its verdict, not least because of the deadline of July 27 for Italy to submit its list of teams to compete in next season's Champions League and UEFA Cup competitions.
If found guilty of attempting to influence the outcome of matches, teams face possible penalties ranging from relegation to Serie B or C, being stripped of trophies or having points deducted at the start of next season.
Individuals face bans from the sport.
