D-DAY IN ITALY

The fate of the four Italian teams charged with sporting fraud will be revealed tonight after the closure of the Italian stock market but, should Juventus, Milan and Fiorentina be relegated from Serie A, they would automatically be ruled out of next season's Champions League, even if they were to appeal successfully against the demotion. The fourth team Lazio would not be allowed into the Uefa Cup.

"You will know the verdict [today] and the first-degree verdict [the verdict given before the chance of an appeal] could already be enforceable as regards European competitions," Guido Rossi, the head of the Italian FA, said yesterday. "We have already agreed with Uefa that the first verdict will count if we will not manage to meet their dates with the appeals." The Italian FA must hand Uefa the lists of teams which will be involved in European competitions by July 27.

The next Champions League campaign could, therefore, start without the Italian champions Juventus - who face the most serious charges and could be relegated to Serie C1 and stripped of their last two league titles - as well as Milan, who came second and Fiorentina, who finished fourth. Roma, Chievo and Palermo would take their places in Europe. The clubs will have three days to appeal to the federal court after the verdict is announced.

Silvio Berlusconi, who returned to his role of Milan president last month, yesterday criticised the process. "We can't penalise the fans. The individuals should be punished, not the clubs. We cannot accept quick and summary verdicts. They would only damage the fans and people working for TV," he said.

Rossi, however, was in no mood to compromise. "I don't care what Berlusconi says. Clubs can be considered as responsible for the situation we found since starting the investigation," he said. "Those who enter the world of football have to accept its rules. This is the biggest crisis Italian football has ever faced. The biggest problem is that people who were supposed to control the whole system were controlled by those people they were supposed to control instead."

Prosecutors have asked for the 29-times Italian champions Juventus to be relegated to the third division, with the other three teams starting from the second division with a points deduction. A lawyer for Juventus said last week that relegation to the second division would be an acceptable sanction, if the Bianconeri are found guilty. The former Juventus president Franzo Grande Stevens shared that gloomy outlook: "I expect demotion to Serie B with a deduction of many points so that it will be impossible for Juventus to return immediately to Serie A," he said.

Manchester United have also been linked with the Brazilian goalkeeper Dida and the Italy playmaker Andrea Pirlo, while the agent of the Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon revealed the Italian international received an offer from a Premiership side, reportedly Arsenal, while Chelsea are set to make an offer to Milan for Alessandro Nesta.