‘Jogo Bought’ recalls scandal in Italian football – 05/17/2023 – O Mundo É a Bola

The recent sports news is taken by reports that show a scheme by which Brazilian soccer players, with their behavior on the field, influenced the results of bets placed on websites that operate in this segment.

With the ongoing investigations, eight athletes, the best known of which is defender Eduardo Bauermann (Santos), were suspended for one month by the STJD (Superior Court of Sports Justice) from professional activities.

This is yet another episode that shows that, behind the scenes, a lot of dirty things happen in sport. Scandals, betting-related or otherwise, have occurred in the not-so-distant past.

Although journalism has covered these cases in depth –such as the Mafia da Loteria Esportiva, in the 1980s, and the Mafia do Apito, in the 2000s, both in Brazil–, to my knowledge, there are no documentaries that allow those interested to know the stories , those involved, the outcomes.

Perhaps the audiovisual industry is interested now, with recent events, and will produce a film or series on the subject in the near future, which is both relevant and overwhelming.

What is possible to watch now, for those who subscribe to Netflix (streaming), is “Jogo Comprado” (2021), a set of six episodes that deal with sports scandals not only in football, but in motorsport, basketball, figure skating, in cricket and horse racing.

I saw “Footballgate” (translated to “Scandal in Italian Football” and lasting 107 minutes), which has nothing to do with betting but addresses the circumstances that led to the mighty Juventus, the club that accumulates the most titles in Italy’s Serie A, to be punished with the loss of two “scudettos”, 2005 and 2006, in addition to relegation to the second division.

The documentary revolves around investigations by the Italian prosecution and police into Luciano Moggi, the top manager of Juventus at the time.

Phones were tapped to seek evidence of influence peddling, and the conclusion was that Moggi was acting in conjunction with the head of the Italian Association of Referees to gain advantages for the Turin team.

A conversation revealed that Moggi chose referees who would be favorable to Juve to participate in the draw that would define who would referee the team’s matches – and other duels as well.

“Footballgate” reports that in a match, with a supposedly “Juventino” judge, three specific Bologna players received a yellow card, which left them suspended for the next game, which was against… Juventus.

One of the interesting moments recorded in the eavesdropping is that of Moggi, unhappy with Gianluca Paparesta’s performance in Reggina 2 x 1 Juventus, reporting in a joking tone that he locked the referee in the locker room after the match and threw the key away.

Paparesta, after strong lobbying on an influential television program, whose presenter was close to Moggi, was put on ice (removed for a while from arbitration).

Subsequently, the referee denied in a statement that he had been arrested, concluding that Moggi’s speech was nothing more than a bad joke.

“Footballgate” correctly brings Moggi’s version, which in summary declares that it was all an exaggeration, that there was no scheme, that all club officials spoke to the referees association and that they elected him as a scapegoat.

Moggi, now 85 years old, was punished, after judgment in a Napoli court in the case known as Calciopoli, with removal from football for five years and never returned to hold a position in the sport.

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