On Tuesday, the Italian football federation FIGC handed down the first of three sentences. Juve professional Nicolo Fagioli, banned for seven months, apparently amassed millions in debt
Italian football is beset by a betting scandal these days involving three current internationals. While Sandro Tonali (23, Newcastle United) and Nicolo Zaniolo (24, Aston Villa) are currently still waiting for their verdict, Nicolo Fagioli is already serving his seven-month ban.
The Juventus Turin professional’s lawyers had brokered a deal with the Federal Prosecutor’s Office that will see the 22-year-old miss only until the end of the current season. The ban, which was originally set at twelve months, is also said to have been reduced because of his agreement to a treatment plan lasting at least six months.
And in the case of Fagioli, it seems to make a lot of sense. As Italian media reported on Wednesday, the young footballer is said to have accumulated debts of three million euros as a result of his gambling addiction. This is what Fagioli confessed to the Turin public prosecutor’s office.
“Because of the ever-increasing debts, I also received violent threats,” the midfielder is quoted as saying by the daily newspaper “La Repubblica”: “They told me: Pay up, otherwise we’ll break your legs. At night, all I could think of was to keep betting to pay the debt. “
“A thousand untruths” circulating: Fagioli wants to “talk soon “
After pressure from his mother, Fagioli says he has already sought treatment once, unsuccessfully, to combat his gambling addiction. In his Instagram story, the Italian shared his thoughts shortly after the ban was announced. He had wanted to apologise not only to Juve fans, but to sports fans all over the world for his “naive mistake”.
Instead, however, Fagioli was currently reading “a thousand untruths about himself to put me in a bad light”. He did not want to let that stand and announced that he would “talk soon”.
