Italy's soccer league president declared Monday that the season would start on schedule, despite a finance scandal that has forced Premier Silvio Berlusconi to step in to sort it out with a government decree.
Berlusconi's Cabinet is expected to pass the decree today, ensuring that sports tribunals and not civil tribunals handle certain sporting issues, news reports said.
The decree became necessary after a civil tribunal in Reggio Calabria ruled last week that Napoli Calcio, in the second tier Serie B series, would be relegated to the third tier Serie C because of its role in the finance scandal.
Catania, which had been demoted to Serie C at the end of the last season, was given its place in Serie B.
Napoli is one of four clubs, including Serie A team AS Roma, under investigation for questionable financial documentation that allowed the clubs to enroll in the upcoming series.
Prosecutors are looking into whether crimes were committed in the case, in which the clubs gained a credit guarantee to pay debts to the soccer federation through a company that had far too little money to cover the amounts.
The clubs, which also include Serie C teams Cosenza Calcio and Spal, say they were victims of fraud. The scandal, as well as the failure of a half-dozen clubs to secure contracts for television rights, had threatened to delay the Aug. 30-31 start of the season.
Last year, the season's start was stalled for two weeks over TV negotiations.
But on Monday, after an extraordinary meeting of the Italian soccer league, league president Adriano Galliani said the season would start on time.
"There is zero-percent possibility that the championship will be postponed," the ANSA news agency quoted him as saying.
He added that the decree expected today would "stabilize a clear path for everyone."
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