Genoa demoted after match-fixing investigation

MILAN, July 27 (Reuters) - Newly-promoted Genoa have been demoted from Serie A to the third division after the Italian Football League found evidence of match-fixing.

The League's disciplinary commission investigated a 250,000 euro ($301,700) payment from Genoa to their opponents Venezia before the final Serie B game of the season on June 11 and said telephone taps showed it was aimed at "guaranteeing" the result.

Genoa's 3-2 win over already-relegated Venezia secured them promotion. Now the club who won six of the first seven Italian championships will play in Serie C1.

Club president Enrico Preziosi and general manager Stefano Capozucca were handed five-year bans on Wednesday from holding positions in the game for their roles in the affair.

Genoa said in a statment that Preziosi had resigned.

Francesco Dal Cin, managing director of Venezia who were declared bankrupt in June, was also given a five-year ban.

Martin Lejsal and Massimo Borgobello, players with Venezia last season, were given bans of five and six months.

Genoa will start their campaign with a three-point penalty imposed by the League. All the decisions can be appealed.

The demotion adds to the chaos surrounding the 2005-6 Serie A season which starts on August 28. Torino, who were promoted with Genoa, and Sicilian club Messina have been excluded from the top flight due to their financial problems.

Currently the 20-team Serie A only has 17 clubs ready to start the season.

SUCCESS TO MISERY

In the space of six weeks Genoa fans have enjoyed the success of promotion, the tension of an investigation and now the misery of relegation to Serie C.

Theie 10-year absence from the top flight looked to have ended with the dramatic victory over Venezia on June 11.

But the celebrations did not last long. A few days later Venezia's geneeral manager Giuseppe Pagliari was stopped by police as he drove away from the business headquarters of Genoa president and owner Preziosi.

Inside the car police found a suitcase containing 250,000 euros, a part-payment of the transfer fee for Venezia defender Ruben Maldonado, according to Pagliari.

The League's disciplinary commission said in a 16-page statement that rumours had been circulating that Genoa's promotion rivals Torino might have offered Venezia, who had little to play for, a 'bonus' to give their all against Genoa.

The statement said the money given was "not only in order to refuse any bonus to win against Genoa but also to guarantee the much expected result in favour of Genoa".

The statement said that the claim that the money was given as part of a transfer payment was "irrelevant".

Investigators were able to listen to telephone taps of conversations between club officials and between the players Lejsal and Borgobello.

According to the statement, the phone taps of the players included the phrases "there is an agreement between the two clubs", "there is money involved but it is not known who will take it" and "the club will take it".