Two Italian national team footballers have been placed under investigation in a widening match-fixing scandal, just days before the European football championships.

The crisis facing the Italian national team – known as the Azzurri – recalls the Calciopoli match-influencing investigation in 2006 which broke just as players were preparing for the World Cup, which Italy went on to win.

On Monday, defender Domenico Criscito was pulled from the national squad after police swooped on the Italian team's training camp at dawn to search his room.

Later, fellow defender Leonardo Bonucci was also put under investigation in an ongoing inquiry which has already resulted in teams being docked points and players suspended.

Police arrested a further 17 suspects across Italy including 11 players, among them Stefano Mauri, the captain of leading Serie A side Lazio, while Antonio Conte, the manager of champions Juventus, is also being investigated. Mauri is suspected of being one of a group of players who took €600,000 (£480,000) in bribes last season to fix the result of a match between Lazio and Lecce.

Former Genoa defender Criscito, who now plays for Zenit St Petersburg, had been likely to make the final selection on Tuesday for the Italian team,

"I am not taking Criscito because he would have been under pressure which no human being can bear," coach Cesare Prandelli told a news conference.

"The other reason is that he could have been summoned by the prosecutor at any moment, before a match."

Magistrates in Cremona running the investigation have previously focused on lower division matches, but Monday's operation revealed they now believe Serie A could have been targeted in the scam.

Among those arrested were Omar Milanetto, the former captain of Genoa, and Sampdoria striker Christian Bertani.

Five of the arrest warrants are for Hungarian citizens believed to have paid for match-fixing alongside Balkan and Singaporean betting rings.

Cremona prosecutor Roberto Di Martino said the inquiry, which relied extensively on wiretaps, could have been "infinite" but was limited by resources.

Conte, whose house was searched on Monday, is being investigated over alleged match fixing at Siena when he was manger there. He "is strongly determined to prove his total innocence", his lawyer said.

Police photographed Criscito at a suspect lunch held in May 2011 in a Genoa restaurant with Genoa player Giuseppe Sculli, two members of Genoa's Ultra fan groups and a known Bosnian criminal.

"I have nothing to do with this," Criscito told reporters on Monday. "I was only out for dinner with some Genoa fans."

Cremona magistrates have been issuing arrest warrants since last year as they work through the investigation, dubbed "Last Bet". They are passing their conclusions to Italy's football federation, which is referring players to its own tribunal and handing down sporting convictions well ahead of pending criminal trials.

The federation will begin a huge trial on 31 May based on earlier evidence involving 22 clubs, 52 players and 33 matches, mostly played in Italy's Serie B in recent seasons.

The investigation of Bonucci, a former Bari player who now plays for Juventus, is being handled by magistrates in Bari who are carrying out a separate probe. He has been implicated by former teammate Andrea Masiello, who has admitted scoring a faked own goal in one rigged match.

Prandelli said he was keeping Bonucci in the squad because there was as yet no formal notification he was under investigation.

Commenting on the allegations and investigation, Giovanni Trapattoni, the Italian manager of the Irish national team, said: "I would say without doubt that is devastating news. What could be the Italian team's reaction? On one side it is clear that news like this can bring people down, but it could also push them to show the clean face of football."