Since last Wednesday, the documents related to the ‘Doppia Curva’ inquiry have been forwarded to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. Therefore, the prosecutor Chinè has launched a sports investigation that indirectly involves Inter and Milan, as well as officials and licensed parties.
To clarify some news released in recent days suggesting a possible disqualification for some footballers including Calhanoglu, lawyer Paco D’Onofrio explained the main points of this investigation from a sports perspective and the possible sanctions we might expect on ‘Cronache di Spogliatoio’.
These are his words: Footballers cannot have relationships with ultra fans, but it’s clear that the rule must be interpreted. The colloquialism is distinguished in active and passive, it is one thing if I make a phone call, another if I receive it, another if a fan reaches me at home or waits for me in a car park. These are elements that need to be considered because the federation wants to avoid a promiscuity, only a company representative called the SLO can have relationships, all other members should not have relationships with fans. We should also understand if they had such relationships with a certain continuity and intensity.
In the case of possible disqualifications, the well-known lawyer downplayed recent rumors: Do footballers who have had continuous relationships risk disqualification at a sports level? According to the rules yes, but then the rules have a statistic that is jurisprudence, i.e. application. There are rules that say one thing and then have never been applied, this is one of those cases. I have never seen convictions for footballers who frequented ultra fans or who have had attitudes of proximity and regular attendance. For managers it is different because they manage activities that can be of interest to the most fervent fans: ticket sales, accessories, car parks, food sales. There have been convictions of this kind in the past, I do not remember significant convictions for attitudes of this kind on footballers. If the investigation reveals that a footballer has promised and handed over a number of tickets to one or more fans, that is an illicit behavior.
