The Italian third-tier club Crotone have been placed under judicial administration for a year because police found “sufficient evidence” of pervasive Mafia infiltration, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Crotone, based in the southern Calabria region that is home to the powerful ’Ndrangheta Mafia, are seventh in group C of the Serie C league, on five points from four games. They played in Serie A for two consecutive seasons almost 10 years ago, and in 2020-21.
Tuesday’s decision means the club will continue sporting activities but under the supervision of court-appointed administrators. The club are not under investigation.
“FC Crotone will actively collaborate with the judicial administrators appointed by the court to continue its activities in the best interests of the club, fans and sport in general,” the club said in a statement. Crotone said the court decision “does not even remotely suggest complicity or connivance by the club, its shareholders, or its managers and collaborators”.
The prosecutors’ office of the city of Catanzaro said in a statement that Crotone had been “subjected, over the last decade, directly or at least indirectly, to conditions of intimidation and subjugation by members of local ‘Ndrangheta clans”.
The local mob had, in particular, infiltrated the club’s security and ticketing operations, and the judicial administration regime is expected to help steer Crotone’s economic activities back on to a legal path, prosecutors said.
Mafia infiltration of Italian football, including its lucrative merchandising and ticketing businesses, is a well-known phenomenon, with recent investigations targeting hardline ultra fan groups at the top clubs Inter and Milan.
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