`Forgive me, Father . . . I am a footballer and I sold a very important game. I behaved in a way that did damage to my team, tempted as I was by the offer of a new, better contract. I behaved badly towards my old team and towards its fans. What an ugly world this is, Father. In the world of soccer, people do these things and other things too. Money has killed off everything and I am a victim. I know that I fixed the whole championship, but now who will forgive me?"

The above puzzling and anonymous confessional letter was published 10 days ago by the Italian Catholic magazine, Famiglia Cristiana, on the eve of the new Serie A season. Were it not for the fact that Famiglia Cristiana is a reputable magazine, run by the Pauline religious order, the "confession" might have been dismissed as cheapskate journalistic invention.

Rather than retract the "confession", however, Famiglia Cristiana has resolutely stood over its story, vouchsafeing for both the identity of the player and the accuracy of his allegations about a fixed match. Given that last season's Serie A title battle produced one of the tightest, most dramatic finishes of the last 20 years, with AC Milan winning from Lazio by just one point, some commentators have inevitably speculated that the penitent footballer's allegation refers to last season's championship. The "confession" produced an inevitable and immediate flurry. Reporters began checking match reports from last season, looking for likely candidates and suggesting that the match in question might be an all too easy 5-1 win for AC Milan over Udinese at a critical moment in the championship contest last April.

MEANWHILE, state prosecutors in Alba (where Famiglia Cristiana is printed), in Rome (home of the federation) and in Turin (where attorney Raffaello Guariniello is still carrying out an inquiry into doping allegations made this time last year by former AS Roma coach, Zdenek Zeman) also got active, opening inquiries into "sporting fraud".

Prosecutor Guariniello has interviewed both Father Antonio Sciortino, editor of Famiglia Cristiana, and Father Antonio Rizzolo, the journalist-priest who edits the "Talk To Father" column in which the anonymous footballer made his confession. Both priests refused to reveal the player's name, arguing that, to some extent, they are bound to secrecy since the letter was written to a priest.

Both did, however, confirm that the "confession" is genuine and that the original letter had been signed. Furthermore, they pointed out that their magazine has called on the player to reveal all to Italian soccer authorities.

For the time being, however, the anonymous confession remains just that, despite further calls from the soccer federation for the player to come clean. The federation could hardly do anything else. After all, they have little to go on, a point underlined by their president, Luciano Nizzola.

"We don't know who the player is, what division he plays in, to which particular match his letter refers and we don't even know which season he is talking about," he said. "In short, we know nothing."

AC Milan players and officials, for their part, have dismissed the allegations, at least in as far as they might refer to their title win of last season.

"No one did us any favours," said the club's German striker Oliver Bierhoff. "We proved on the pitch that we were the best team in the land."

If these latest allegations in Italian soccer are proved, then it would seem that the world's most popular game is going to finish the century as it began it, i.e., with its affairs occasionally tinged by the sour whiff of corruption, bribery and cheating.