Fresh Investigation Into Players' Gambling Is On

Written By Onyeka Daniel

Even though they just returned from a ban for their involvement in gambling, the duo of Sandro Tonali and Nicolò Fagioli remain under investigation for the same offense as new evidence have come to light. The two players are being investigated by the Milan Prosecutor.

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This is in spite of the fact that they’ve already served lengthy bans between 2023 and 2024, but this time, around, they’re not the only ones under the spotlight. Fagioli and Tonali are among the 13 players under investigation for illegal betting and the Milan Prosecutor has started a new investigation.

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This was after the midfielders’ interviews with Italian authorities in 2023 and after scrutinising their devices. Tonali and Fagioli will be fined if found guilty, but do not risk another ban, as the alleged wrongdoing occurred between December 2021 and October 2023, for which the Italian pair have already been punished.

At the same time, they are still accused of having gambled on illegal betting sites and poker platforms and partly promoting these platforms among other players, helping to open betting accounts and delivering money on behalf of other bettors.

According to Corriere della Sera, the investigators found Tonali’s statements more sincere than those of Fagioli. The ex-Juventus midfielder, now at Fiorentina, denied encouraging friends and colleagues to use the illegal betting platforms, which was contradicted by content found on his phone.

The FIGC Prosecutor Giuseppe Chiné will receive documents from Italian authorities, but none of the players under investigation seems at risk of being banned, having not gambled on football games, for which Fagioli and Tonali have already been suspended.

Meanwhile, according to the report, the other 12 Serie A players, include players from top Italian clubs like Juventus, Atalanta, Roma even Torino who have been named in a new investigation. There’s no evidence that other players involved in the new investigation ever gambled on football games, but their names emerged after investigations.

The full list is Alessandro Florenzi(Milan), Nicolò Zaniolo (Fiorentina), Mattia Perin and Weston McKennie (Juventus), ex-Bianconeri player Leandro Paredes (now at Roma) and Angel Di Maria, Atalanta’s Raoul Bellanova, Torino’s Samuele Ricci, former Cremonese striker Cristian Buonaiuto, now at Padova, Matteo Cancellieri (Parma, former Lazio and Empoli), Adames Hector Junior Firpo (Leeds United) and tennis player Matteo Gigante.

The players are accused of using illegal platforms for online poker and betting, but not for football matches. On a criminal front, the potential punishment for investigated players is nearly irrelevant, as they’ll be ordered to pay a maximum of €250 if found guilty.

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At the same time, the Italian Football Federation could open a new investigation, but if the players did not bet on football games, as it seems, a ban is highly unlikely, just like Zaniolo, who was already involved in an investigation for illegal online betting, but escaped a ban as his activities didn’t involve gambling on football matches.

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