Totonero 1980 orTotonero was amatch-fixing scandal inItaly in 1980 inSerie A andSerie B. The participants in this scandal wereAvellino,Bologna,Lazio,Milan, andPerugia of Serie A andPalermo andTaranto of Serie B, all of whom were declared guilty after the trials.[1] Notably,Paolo Rossi was suspended for three years (reduced to two on appeal),[2] and upon his return helpedItaly in their successful1982 FIFA World Cup campaign.[3]
In 1946, Italy introduced astate-run pool for citizens to bet on football, called theTotocalcio. It was the only form of legalizedfootball betting in the country until the late 1990s. For fans to win, they needed to correctly pick the outcome of 13 games, making it virtually impossible for the pool to be fixed since so many matches were involved.[4] Because of this, the only way to bet on a single match or the winners of events like theCoppa Italia or Serie A was to bet with illegalbookmakers.[4]
The plan was created in 1979 by restaurant owner Alvaro Trinca and his supplier Massimo Cruciani at Trinca's restaurant inRome. The restaurant was a popular spot for many Lazio players, who agreed to fix matches in exchange for a cut of the money.[1] The first match arranged to be fixed was a friendly between Lazio and Palermo on 1 November 1979, which ended in a draw as planned. However, many of the games did not end as planned, and Trinca and Cruciani reportedly lost over 100 million lire by February 1980 (worth around US$117,000 in 1980 dollars or over US$400,000 in 2022).[1][5]
On 1 March 1980, Trinca and Cruciani filed a report with Rome's Public Prosecutor with the names of 27 players and 13 clubs across Serie A and Serie B.[1] Trinca was arrested eight days later and Cruciani three days after that. On 23 March, theGuardia di Finanza arrested 13 players as well as Milan presidentFelice Colombo immediately after the final whistle of that day's matches. All of those arrested were acquitted of criminal charges because there was no law against match fixing in Italy at the time.[1]
