This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

An Italian footballer has pulled out of Italy's national squad just days before the European football championships after he was placed under investigation in a widening match-fixing scandal.

Police officers swooped on the Italian national squad's training camp at dawn on Monday to search the room of defender Domenico Criscito and inform him that he is under investigation.

Domenico Criscito. Photograph: AFP/Getty

In the same operation, police arrested 17 people, including 11 players, among them Stefano Mauri, the captain of leading Serie-A side Lazio, and placed Antonio Conte, manager of champions Juventus, under investigation.

Criscito, who plays for Zenit St Petersburg, was considered likely to make the final selection on Tuesday for the Italian squad readying for the European championships. However, the team manager, Cesare Prandelli, and Italy's football federation (FIGC) decided to omit him because of the investigation, said the FIGC vice-president, Demetrio Albertini.

Criscito, said Albertini, was "sorry for the repercussions on the national team and on the dressing room", but maintained his innocence.

Criscito's house in Genoa was also searched as part of the investigation, which has already led to one team being docked points and players handed lengthy suspensions.

Magistrates in Cremona running the investigation have focused mainly on Serie-B matches, but Monday's operation revealed they now have the top division in their sights.

Among those arrested were Omar Milanetto, a former captain of Genoa, and Sampdoria striker Cristian Bertani, as well as others who allegedly paid off players to lose games or prearrange the number of goals to be scored. The investigation of Conte concerns his time at Siena.

The Juventus manager's lawyer, Antonio De Rencis, said: "Conte's reaction is that of someone who's completely innocent and strongly determined to prove his total innocence."

The Siena president, Massimo Mezzaroma, has also been placed under investigation.

Responding to questions about Siena, the Cremona prosecutor Roberto Di Martino said: "There are seven, eight games being looked at and there have been statements that make us think they were manipulated. The searches involved players, coaches and directors of the club, including Conte and Mezzaroma."

Apart from Siena, Serie-A games last season under suspicion involved Napoli, Sampdoria, Brescia, Bari, Lecce, Palermo, Lazio and Genoa.

Di Martino said the search of the national squad's training camp concerned just one player.

"We shouldn't place too much emphasis on the blitz at Coverciano, it is a problem that concerns only Criscito and not other players in the national team at the moment," he said.

"Also we shouldn't place too much emphasis on this anyway; the notification of an impending investigation is a tool we have, but not a guilty judgment. There's been no action taken against Criscito travelling, he can play at the Euros easily."

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

Investigators believe that much of the match-rigging was organised by an eastern European gang known as The Gypsies, which allegedly paid out thousands of euros to players.

"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 their investigation, which has been dubbed Last Bet. They are also passing their conclusions to the FIGC, which is referring players to its own sporting tribunal that is already handing down sporting convictions well ahead of pending criminal trials.

The federation will start a large-scale trial on 31 May based on earlier evidence handed over to them involving 22 clubs, 52 players and 33 matches, mostly played in Italy's Serie B in recent seasons.

Magistrates in Bari and Naples are meanwhile mounting their own investigations into match fixing.

Italian football was rocked in 2006 by the Calciopoli match-influencing investigation, which resulted in relegation for Juventus and the stripping of two of its league titles. A number of Juve players tainted by the scandal were preparing for World Cup duty as the news broke, but went on to lift the cup.

Commenting on the new investigation, Giovanni Trapatoni, the Italian manager of the Irish national team, said: "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.

"As someone who has been abroad for years, I have to say we are creating an ugly image for our football."