The year 2006 was one of contrasting fortunes for Italian football. The Azzurri, led by the dominate displays of captain Fabio Cannavaro and guided by the wise old head of Marcello Lippi, went all the way at the FIFA finals in Germany to win the country’s fourth world crown. At exactly the same time, the country’s domestic game was unravelling to pieces as the scandal that came to be known as Calciopoli emerged.

As Italy’s top clubs all were awarded various punishments for their involvement in the scandal, Inter, suspiciously, avoided any punishment at all. Juventus were harshly relegated to Serie B while Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio, amongst others, faced significant financial and point penalties.

Consequently, Inter were left in a great position to start their period of Italian ‘dominance’. Massimo Moratti’s team not only started the 2006-07 season with a major points advantage thanks to the points penalties awarded to its rivals, but, were greatly strengthened as former Juve stars like Patrick Vieira and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who were unwilling to ply their trade in Serie B, were picked up at discounted rates.

But, ever since the conclusion of the 2006 Calciopoli case has there been suspicion over how Inter emerged completely unscathed, in addition over the evidence used in the trial.

Here at AC Milan Blog, such suspicions have been voiced before and with the revelation that Inter were just as guilty as its punished rivals only justifies the view presented in a previous post titled, Calciopoli: Who was really responsible?.

Just as Juventus and the others were implicated in the scandal after the release of wiretaps that showed certain club officials talking with referee designators, Inter have also been found guilty of the same practice. No other club official was castigated as much Juventus’ former transfer guru Luciano Moggi who has become, unfairly to an extent, the symbol of Calciopoli and all things that were wrong with Calcio. But, with the revelations of Inter’s involvement it is Giacinto Facchetti who has been found just as guilty as Moggi.

The big question is why the wiretaps that have now implicated Inter in the scandal were not brought to attention in 2006? There is a simple answer. It was Guido Rossi, a former Inter President and close friend of Massimo Moratti that presided over the 2006 Calciopoli trials and it was he who deliberately overlooked the wiretaps that would have brought Inter under investigation despite Paolo Bergamo, the referee designator, asserting in public that he had made contact with Inter.

It was not only Rossi who was responsible for allowing Inter to emerge from the trials squeaky clean. In addition, Inter’s close political ties with TIM, the league’s major sponsor, also made it possible for such a trial to take place that would help see Inter emerge as the undisputed force in Serie A.

It is on July 18^th that could see Inter’s 2005-06 title, the one that was taken from Juventus, revoked. But, whether or not it is will be of little relevance. What matters is that it is now been shown and made clear to the public that it is Juventus – and to a lesser extent Milan and the other clubs penalised – and not Inter that are the real victims of this whole affair.

To take it further, there is now good reason to believe that it was Inter responsible for triggering the whole scandal in the first place. In a situation where all clubs were encouraged to keep lines of communication open with the FIGC regarding referees, Inter, it could be argued, took advantage of their political position by exposing to the public the wiretaps of rival clubs in order to finally achieve success on the pitch. If this was the ploy, it worked like a charm.

It is Inter that are the dirty club of Italian football, not Juventus. And it is Massimo Moratti, not Luciano Moggi that represents all that is wrong with Italian football.

Inter deserve to be stripped of their 2005-06 Scudetto, at the very least, and no other club should be awarded it in their place. Instead, 2006 Scudetto should be blotted out as another void in history, similar to how the 2005 Scudetto was.

The conclusion of Calciopoli 2 will hopefully draw to a close this dark period in Italian football history. The last five years have been blighted by the decreasing competitiveness of Italian teams in Europe, falling attendances, the weakening of the financial positions of country’s top clubs and the great damage done to the reputation of Italian football around the world.

It is now time for Italian football to look forward. Italian clubs currently struggle to compete with the giants of English and Spanish football, at least in financial terms and in their appeal to the game’s biggest stars. However, there is reason to be optimistic about the Italian game.

The arrival of Thomas Di Benedetto as AS Roma’s new owner has brought much promise to the Italian capital. Some star players are expected to be lured by the American’s dollars and a new stadium is in the planning stages. Another positive development has been the construction of Juventus’ new home stadium, the Juventus Arena, which the club owns outright while AC Milan are expected to further strengthen a side that were champions last term.

Of course, much more is needed to again make the Serie A one of the leading leagues in the world, but, for now, fans of Calcio can at least content themselves that the scandal of 2006 has finally come to a fair end. For us fans of Milan, we can now ask our Inter friends what they will cheer about now as their “we win without stealing” chant now makes a mockery of but themselves.