Antonio Conte cleared of match-fixing

After being accused of fixing games in 2011, soon-to-be Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has his charges cleared.

Before he guides his country into the upcoming Euro 2016 tournament, and way before he takes charge of his first game with Chelsea, Antonio Conte was cleared of match-fixing by an Italian court on Monday.

According to cbc.ca, Conte asked to have this decision finalized before he leads his Italian team into the summer tournament, and the court ruled he had no role in the match-fixing scandal from his days as a manager for Serie B side Siena in 2011.

Two matches were brought in to be questioned, Siena’s 1-0 win over Albinoleffe in May 2011 and their 2-2 draw to Novara in the same month.

The prosecutor demanded that Conte serve a six-month suspension and be fined $11,700 for his role in the scandal.

Italian soccer federation president Carlo Tavecchio said he knew the countries manager was not-guilty and that now he can get back into focusing on the Euros. “Finally his position has been clarified. My faith in him has never been in question. Now we are all even more focused on the Euros.”

If he were to be suspended for his role in the Siena scandal, this wouldn’t be Conte’s first ban. Before he took the role as Juventus manager in 2012/13, Conte served a four-month ban for failing to report the scandal to the league.

Match-fixing scandals are not a surprises for Italian soccer clubs. Many have been found guilty of fixing games and some clubs have been docked many points, or automatically relegated, like Juventus were in 2006.

Now that this all out of the way for the 46-year-old, Conte can focus solely on the Italian national team and then move his way to Chelsea’s front office after the month-long tournament.

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