Goal.com
Roma and Palermo among others are the latest clubs to have been involved in calling referee designators after more evidence from Tuesday's Calciopoli trial in Naples was published by the Italian media.
Of the 75 calls that Luciano Moggi's defence team presented to the court, a number included the newcomers, meaning that 11 of the 20 clubs who participated in the Serie A championship at the time were involved to some extent in calling the ex-designators Paolo Bergamo and Pierluigi Pairetto. Those 11 teams are Bologna, Cagliari, Fiorentina, Inter, Juventus, Lazio, Milan, Palermo, Reggina, Roma and Udinese.
Juve, Lazio, Milan, Fiorentina and Reggina were already punished during the 2006 sporting trial.
Tuttosport claims 43 phone calls of the 75 presented involved Inter, and some of those were played out at the hearing yesterday. Nine calls involved Milan, but the latest evidence involves Roma and Palermo to as well as Udinese, Cagliari and Bologna.
In one call dated April 14 2005, the then Rosanero director Rino Foschi speaks with former referee Massimo De Santis, one of the alleged plotters.
Foschi: Am I disturbing you?
De Santis: No, no, I have just finished training.
Foschi: The other day I spoke with V... It was a personal thing, but not one that I want alone, do you understand? When are we going to see each other?
De Santis: What, and you tell me now... you think.
Foschi: It's all easy for me... for me it's difficult, difficult.
De Santis: Look, we will organise something.
The other calls involve Cagliari, Bologna, Reggina and Roma. Reggina were already penalised by the 2006 sporting trial.
Roma's call involved Daniele Prade and Innocenzo Mazzini, the former FIGC vice president. Both Tuttosport and La Gazzetta dello Sport claim the call was before the Lupi's trip to Atalanta in which Antonio Cassano scored the winner.
Prade tells Mazzini: "We are counting on you." a day before the game.
In relation to the phone calls involving Palermo, Maurizio Zamparini insists his club did nothing wrong in calling the ref chiefs and he was quick to defend his position.
"I don't have to calm anyone because I am not worried at all. I called three times to complain about referees, but it's one thing complaining, and another trying to gang up on others. The fans shouldn't worry," Zamparini is quoted as saying on Goal.com Italia.
Earlier, Moggi's legal team were accused of falsifying evidence in court by Gianfelice Facchetti, the late Giacinto Facchetti's son. He argued his father, who at the time was presdient of Inter did not ask for specific referees.
But, Bergamo who spoke to Facchetti at the time, offered a contrasting view. He maintains that Facchetti did in fact ask for Collina in one of the calls.
"It was Facchetti who nominated Collina, not me," Bergamo told Rai.
Tuesday's court session revealed a call in which Facchetti had invited Bergamo to go to Moratti's offices because there was a gift waiting for him.
"I cannot remember going to Inter's offices to pick up a present. But, at the time it was Christmas and we received presents from everyone. In looking at this there needs to be some good sense," he added.
"It was my last year as a designator and so I had dinner with old friends including Moggi and [Antonio] Giraudo.
"Moratti never came, but he did invite me to go to Forte dei Marmi."
The trial in Naples resumes next Tuesday.