ROME (Reuters):
CHAMPIONS JUVENTUS should be relegated to the third division and three other top clubs thrown out of Italian soccer's top league, the prosecutor in a sports match-fixing trial said yesterday.
Stefano Palazzi told the tribunal that AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina should be despatched to Italy's second division, Serie B, and Juve also stripped of the Serie A titles they won in the past two seasons.
The prosecutor's demands are more severe than expected and came just hours before Italy were due to play World Cup hosts Germany in a semi-final in Dortmund.
Juve are at the centre of Italy's biggest sporting trial after phone taps revealed one of their top managers discussing referee appointments with officials. Palazzi said Juventus should be relegated to "below Serie B".
The prospect of Italy's most successful team plummeting into the also-rans of soccer sent a shiver through investors and the Milan stock exchange suspended Juve's shares.
In another blow, Juventus said coach Fabio Capello had resigned. Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon said on Monday he would appoint Capello, one of Italian soccer's most successful managers, as coach to the Spanish giants.
STOCKS DOWN
Juve's stock was indicated down almost 14 per cent soon after the trial news broke. Shares were indicated down 2.16 per cent at 1.31 euros.
Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire who owns AC Milan, said he was "indignant" at the prosecutor's request to relegate his club and said Milan should be handed Juve's last two titles if the Turin team was found guilty.
"Milan have never had refereeing favours, on the contrary, they've been victims of refereeing favours in favour of other clubs," he said.
After two days of procedural wrangling, the sports trial at Rome's Olympic stadium began in earnest yesterday with some of the 26 defendants - club officials, football federation staff, referees and linesmen - personally pleading their case.
The tribunal has said it aims to deliver its verdicts on July 10, the day after the World Cup final in Berlin. All the accused have denied wrongdoing.
Former Juve chief executive Antonio Giraudo was one of the first to speak.
"All kinds of things go on in football: people give Rolexes to referees, people fix the accounts. What I'm saying is that this is an environment in which you have to protect yourself," he said.
FINES
Palazzi asked for Giraudo to be handed a five-year ban plus a Ð5,000 (US$6,000) fine for every instance of sporting fraud.
He asked for the same punishment for Luciano Moggi, Juve's former general manager, for brothers Diego and Andrea Della Valle, the owner and president of Fiorentina, and for Claudio Lotito, the chairman of Lazio.
He also asked for all four teams to have points docked at the start of next season.
Tribunal president Cesare Ruperto called a premature end to yesterday's proceedings at around 4:00 p.m., because not all the defendants wishing to speak in defence of themselves were present, including the man at the eye of the storm, Moggi.
Juve's former general manager has not appeared at the trial since it started last Thursday, raising doubts over whether he will turn up at all.
Today the remaining defendants will speak, followed by prosecutor Stefano Palazzi, who will respond to their arguments. Lawyers representing the accused will then launch their defences.
Those found guilty can appeal and the appeals process must be finished by July 27 - the deadline set by European soccer's ruling body for the FIGC to submit the list of teams for next season's Champions League and UEFA Cup competition.
