The Calciopoli Scandal: How a Referee Fixing Scandal Shook Italian Football to Its Core
In the summer of 2006, while the Italian national team was basking in World Cup glory, the country’s domestic football scene was unraveling in disgrace. The Calciopoli scandal — a vast match-fixing conspiracy involving some of Italy's biggest clubs — was exploding into public view, threatening the very integrity of Serie A and altering the future of European football.
Calciopoli (from calcio, Italian for football, and the suffix -poli, from Watergate) wasn’t just a case of a few bad actors bending rules. It was a systemic, coordinated manipulation of referees and officials that saw elite clubs tamper with outcomes, abuse power, and erode the game’s core values.
Let’s unravel what happened, who was involved, and how Calciopoli changed Italian football forever.
The Scandal Unfolds...