The nine-year investigation into the Italian football’s Calciopolimatch scandal of 2006 has been concluded with no sentences ultimately decreed. Luciano Moggi and Antonio Giraudi were the two main individuals in the investigation of the case, accused of having manipulated the refereeing appointments of Serie A games to the approval of Juventus, both saw charges against them dropped by the high court on Monday (23/3).

Calciopoliinvolved Italy’s top professional football leagues which competed in Serie A and Serie B tournament. Transcripts of recorded telephone conversations published in Italian newspapers suggested that during the 2004-2005 season, Juventus general managers, Moggi and Antonio Giraudo had conversations with several officials of Italian football to influence referee appointment. The teams have been accused of rigging games by selecting favorable referees.

The two former Juventus general managers had been banned from any involvement in football by the sporting courts when recordings of telephone conversations using Swiss SIM cards with the referee’s chief, PierluigiPairetto, as well as some referees, were used to implicate the pair.

The scandal saw Juventus relegated to Serie B and two of their titles revoked while AC Milan, Lazio, Fiorentina, and Reggina were also punished in the forms of points being deducted. Following the uncovering of the case, Italian Football Federation’s prosecutor called for all four cubs at the center of the scandal to be thrown out of Serie A. Juventus were stripped of the 2005 and 2006 Serie A titles for their role in the scandal, and the club were relegated to the second division with a nine-point penalty. The team immediately won promotion back to Serie A.

The sentence was long disputed because of the largely different severity of punishment between Juventus and other involved teams.And almost a decade on, all charges apart from a one-year suspended sentence to former referee Massimo De Santis have been wiped out.

Following the closing of the case, Moggi criticized that the process that has been carried forward by the court was in abnormal way, it has been a joke for nine years and this is not a pleasant thing for him and for Italian football. However, Moggi’s claims are inaccurate, since the high court not releasing him but rather archiving the case as “expired” on Monday.Moggi avoids a 28-month jail term, while Giraudo escapes 20 months in prison.

Meanwhile, there are still other remaining consequences that the clubs have to deal with. Juventus are demanding compensation of €443 million from the Italian FA for damages they believe were caused by their relegation to Serie B, while they may also fight for the two leagues titles revoked to be reinstated.