De Santis dropped from World Cup

The Italian Federation has asked FIFA to drop referee Massimo De Santis from the 2006 World Cup.

This afternoon the FIGC officially sent a letter to FIFA and UEFA to revoke De Santis’ candidacy for the tournament. Assistant referees Alessandro Griselli and Marco Ivaldi, plus designators Bergamo and Pairetto, will also lose their World Cup passes.

De Santis, a 44-year-old police chief constable, is one of the people under investigation as part of the scandal spreading throughout Italian football. The Naples public prosecutor released a list of 41 names they are looking into, but also claimed there were six ‘brains’ behind the operation to organise certain referees for specific games. De Santis was among them along with Juventus director general Luciano Moggi, Bianconeri chief Antonio Giraudo, FIGC vice-President Innocenzo Mazzini, refereeing designators Paolo Bergamo and Pierluigi Pairetto.

Although nothing has been proved and nobody has been charged with sporting fraud, it was thought unwise to send De Santis to the World Cup with such serious allegations hanging over his head.