Manager Luciano Spalletti: Italy must move beyond betting scandal

Luciano Spalletti, manager of the Italian men’s national football team, wants his players to move beyond the recent betting scandal and focus on the coming 2024 UEFA European Championship qualifying tournament game against Malta on Saturday.

Multiple Italian players have been involved in recent betting scandals, including Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Zaniolo, both of who were sent home by the national team. La Repubblica reported on Saturday that there are at least another 10 players implicated in the scandal.

“We cannot remain stuck in this situation. We must move beyond it, as we had all day to analyze this, feel this sense of disappointment and confusion, but tomorrow we must get back to taking action,” Spalletti said. “Unfortunately, with the situation that had been created, we had no other choice if not to send them back to their homes, families and clubs.”

Italy are currently in the second place in Group C with seven points after four games. They are six points behind the group leader England which have played one more game and match Ukraine and North Macedonia in points. After hosting Malta at home on Saturday, Gli Azzurri will visit Wembley Stadium on Tuesday to face England.

“I hope they can clarify everything, prove their innocence and return to us, as they are two very strong players,” Spalletti added. “I realized even more in training this week just how good Zaniolo can be if you take away some of his bad habits – on the field habits, I hasten to add.”

He reiterated that neither Tonali nor Zaniolo were banned, but sent home for their own good. “Nobody forced anything upon us. We want to be a group that gives a fair representation of the beauty that we have been given, the beauty of being able to represent the Nazionale,” Spalletti said.

As the president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), Gabriele Gravina had to answer questions about the scandal and he called gambling “a social plague” instead of “a football problem” at the Trento Sports Festival.

“The betting scandal couldn’t have been foreseen. I believe that we responded to this situation with great sensitivity, coherence and with respect for the institutions, the players and the Azzurri shirt,” Gravina said. “Unfortunately, gambling addiction isn’t a football problem but a social plague that corrodes from the inside. Yesterday the authorities wanted to serve the notices of guarantee to Zaniolo and Tonali.”