Italian club president arrested

The president of Italian third division side Potenza has been arrested as part of an investigation into possible match-fixing and illegal betting.

Italian police said on Monday that Giuseppe Postiglione was among nine people taken into custody but he has not been charged with an offence.

When Postiglione was named president of Potenza in 2006 at the age of 24, he became Italy's youngest club chief.

Police are probing 10 matches as well as potential Mafia links.

The investigation is being led by Francesco Basentini, the anti-Mafia prosecutor in Potenza which is a town of around 70,000 people in southern Italy's Basilicata region.

Potenza are currently struggling in 15th position in the 18-team Serie C1/B.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/8374056.stm

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This made it onto the BBC before any of the English language Italian football sites Gotta love them.

Anyway, hardly a surprise to see a lower league southern side possibly involved in mafia corruption.

It's the same as the match-fixing in the preliminary rounds of the CL and EL; it is easier to corrupt small fry, since the reward/risk ratio is larger than for top clubs.

Yeah, I guess at the end of the day it's all about making money, it doesn't matter who the teams are. They are easier to get to but also easier to detect because the games are low profile and any significant bets look suspicious.