Artikel lain Club's red card to give bargain hunters carte blanche By Gabriele Marcotti TOP-FLIGHT Italian football will be traumatised by the trial of the country's best-known clubs, referees, executives and club officials.
Four clubs face the prospect of relegation, the flight of their top stars and the end of lucrative sponsorship deals. The shock waves may even resonate across the Continent, with a glut of top names coming on to the transfer market at knockdown prices. Juventus, Italy's most successful club, are most likely to bear the brunt of any successful prosecution. Other big clubs, including AC Milan, winners of the Champions League three years ago, Lazio and Fiorentina, both formerly managed by Sven-Göran Eriksson, now the England head coach, also stand accused of attempting to influence match officials. The knock-on effect will be huge, because the relegated clubs will most probably be unable to keep their highly paid stars. This could lead to a veritable fire sale of world-class footballers, such as Gigi Buffon, Andrea Pirlo, Gianluca Zambrotta, Luca Toni and Alessandro Nesta, of Italy, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, of Sweden, David Trezeguet and Patrick Vieira, of France, and Kaká, Dida and Emerson, of Brazil. In that event, football transfer fees across the Continent would plummet, as a glut of top stars would turn it into a buyer's market, with supply far outstripping demand. Equally, the relegated clubs, particularly Juventus and Milan, would be hit hard financially, as some of their lucrative television rights and sponsorship contracts are conditional upon their presence in the country's top flight. Juventus earn more from sponsorship than any other club in the world, while Milan topped the worldwide TV rights fees table last season. At the same time, Italy's Champions League contingent would be severely weakened. Juventus and Milan would be replaced by Palermo and Chievo, a tiny club from a suburb of Verona with a population of 5,000. That's the doomsday scenario, should the court take a hardline stand against the clubs. A more conciliatory stance would involve Juventus being relegated to Serie B and the other clubs slapped with points penalties and exclusion from European football. Such a "compromise punishment" would spare the clubs the financial burden of relegation (though it is likely they will still struggle to hang on to their top stars), though it is likely to cause a backlash from outraged Italian fans. --rr-- [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Something is new at Yahoo! Groups. Check out the enhanced email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/SISQkA/gOaOAA/yQLSAA/2_TolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> HAPUS BAGIAN EMAIL YG TIDAK PERLU SEBELUM ME-REPLY. ========================================================== Milis Tabloid BOLA Untuk KELUAR DARI MILIS INI. Kirim Mail kosong (tanpa subject) ke alamat [EMAIL PROTECTED] ========================================================== Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bolaml/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
