Pessotto clings to life as tribunal begins

SOCCER: As the most important tribunal in Italy's footballing history opened yesterday, the executive manager of Juventus, one of the clubs at the centre of the case, was clinging to life after a suspected suicide attempt.

On Tuesday, Gianluca Pessotto fell 50 feet from the club's headquarters in Turin clutching rosary beads. Doctors treating him said yesterday they were not yet confident he would survive.

Former Juve and Italy defender Pessotto was appointed to act as a bridge between management and players because of the scandal that prompted yesterday's tribunal, but his involvement in the events is unllikely. He is known to have been suffering from depression.

The player, who is known to many of the players in the World Cup squad, has been connected to a ventilator and put into a drug-induced coma.

Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who spent part of his playing career in Italy, said: "We think of Pessotto a lot and we pray for him."

In Rome, club officials and owners, federation officials, referees, linesmen and their lawyers were called to the tribunal in a low-ceilinged room below the west stand of the Olympic stadium to be accused of violating the Italian code of sporting justice by taking part in a vast match-fixing ring.

All the defendants deny wrongdoing. Reporters were not allowed into the makeshift courtroom.

The former president of Italy's constitutional court is heading a panel of five judges charged with hearing the case. Under the rules of the Italian football federation, those accused are presumed guilty until proven innocent.

Juventus could be stripped of at least one championship and up to three other Serie A sides - AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio - are in danger of relegation. The 26 individuals charged risk being suspended or expelled from the game.

Prosecutors in four cities are conducting separate investigations into the affair, which may result in criminal charges being laid.

Pivotal to the scandal are two Juventus executives, Luciano Moggi and Antonio Giraudo, neither of whom attended the hearing. They are accused of arranging for compliant referees and linesmen to officiate at games involving Juventus and other clubs within their sphere of influence. The strings they allegedly pulled are claimed to have led to players being wrongly booked and penalties being unfairly awarded or withheld.

On Tuesday night, Moggi said the board of Juventus, a quoted company, "knew about everything I was doing, down to the last comma". The club's lawyer, Cesare Zaccone, denied this. He told Gazzetta dello Sport: "You only need to read the minutes . . . there is not a word concerning sporting activities."

The trial was adjourned until Monday, throwing into some doubt the federation's pledge to complete proceedings before the World Cup final.