Premier Mario Monti suggested Tuesday that Italian football should be suspended for two to three years after the latest match-fixing scandal rocked the national team and tarnished the image of the domestic game yet again just a week before the start of the European Championship.
Dawn raids on Monday resulted in 14 arrests - including Lazio captain Stefano Mauri - to bring the total number of suspects arrested in the match-fixing probe to about 50 since last year. Many more have been placed under investigation.
''Football should be stopped for two to three years,'' Monti said on Tuesday in a powerful message to Italy's football authorities on the need to clean up the game. ''It is not a proposal by the government but a question I am asking as someone who was passionate when football was still football.''
Monti made the comments while standing beside the prime minister of Poland, which is co-hosting Euro 2012 with Ukraine starting June 8.
''I'm not making a proposal, and even less is it a proposal that comes from the government, but it's a desire that sometimes I feel inside me: that it would really benefit the maturity of us Italian citizens if this game was completely suspended for two to three years,'' he said.
He also ruled out the use of public money to bail out football teams in difficulty.
Police swept through the Italian national squad's training camp near Florence on Monday as part of the operation and Italy defender Domenico Criscito was left out of the Euro 2012 squad after he was placed under investigation.
Antonio Conte, who coached Juventus to the Serie A title this term, was also officially notified that he is under investigation for alleged wrongdoing while in charge of Siena in 2010-2011.
Apart from those arrested Monday, three people have been placed under house arrest and two others are to present themselves to authorities. Five of the arrests were made in Hungary.
Numerous others have had their houses searched, including Chievo Verona striker Sergio Pellissier as well as Conte and Criscito.
The investigation was started by judicial authorities in Cremona last year. It has resulted in former Atalanta captain Cristiano Doni being banned from football for three and a half years, and the arrest of former Lazio captain Giuseppe Signori.
Serie A clubs Atalanta, Novara and Siena were among the 22 Italian teams notified at the beginning of this month that they are being investigated by sports authorities.
Prosecutors in Cremona have detailed an extensive match-fixing ring stretching as far as Singapore and South America that was allegedly in operation for more than 10 years.
Italy has only recently recovered from the 2006 match-fixing scandal - known as Calciopoli - that resulted in Juventus being relegated to Serie B for a season, plus points penalties for several other Serie A teams and lengthy bans for club and refereeing officials.
The Italian national team reacted in the best possible way, winning the World Cup later that year.
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AP Sports Writer Daniella Matar in Milan contributed to this report.
