Soccer scandal rocks Italy just as seaon concludes

Italy's biggest soccer scandal in a quarter century widened Friday as police searched the offices of the national soccer federation and prosecutors said they were investigating four Serie A clubs for alleged match-fixing.

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and World Cup referee Massimo De Santis were among dozens of people reportedly implicated. "It is terrible," Premier Silvio Berlusconi, whose business empire includes AC Milan, told reporters.

The soccer federation said Carabinieri paramilitary police searched its Rome offices but refused to give details. The ANSA news agency said police seized documents related to a probe by Naples prosecutors concerning the 2004-2005 season.

ANSA said the association of Italian referees was also being searched in connection with allegations that the director general of Juventus tried to influence the choice of match officials.

The entire Juventus board resigned Thursday, including managing director Antonio Giraudo and general director Luciano Moggi, who is under investigation for allegedly trying to influence referee assignments.

Naples prosecutor Giovandomenico Lepore told reporters in that city that investigators were looking into 20 matches from the 2004-2005 season -- 19 in Serie A, and one in Serie B.

Another Naples prosecutor, Giuseppe Narducci, said four Serie A clubs were being probed -- Juventus, Lazio, AC Milan and Fiorentina.

At the end of the 1979-1980 season, Italy was shaken by a match-fixing scandal that led to AC Milan and Lazio being demoted to Serie B.

Fiorentina said in a statement Friday that the Della Valle family, which owns the team, was certain of its "correct conduct."

Lepore said 41 people had been ordered to appear for questioning for suspected criminal association or sports fraud.

ANSA said Moggi and Giraudo were also being investigated for possible involvement in kidnapping in connection with a Reggina victory over Juventus in November 2004. Three referees were allegedly locked in a dressing room by the two Juve officials as punishment for not having assured victory for the Turin club, the report said.