Italian match-fixing scandal returns - 39 matches fixed

I really thought match-fixing fever was over in Italy however it is back with a vengeance. Investigators now say that they have evidence to charge 48 people in the scandal. Of those 48, eight of them are match officials. In addition, they now believe that up to 39 matches were fixed.

So far only one match official, Gianluca Paparesta, had been suspended for his role in the scandal. Now it looks like he is about to get some company.

As if this news couldn't get any worse for Italian soccer, it now looks like they can add Messina to the list of teams that benefited from match fixing. If true, that means 6 teams, or 30% of the top level, were cheating the system with over 10% of the season's games fixed (39 out of 380).

On a side note, if Messina were involved in this mess, they might want to get their money back as they were relegated prior to the Juventus point deduction.