From heaven to hell, soccer ruling shocks Italy

ROME, July 15 (Reuters) Less than a week after winning the World Cup, Italy's soccer universe has been turned upside-down with top clubs ousted from the elite league for match-fixing.

An Italian sports tribunal delivered the verdicts late yesterday, punishing Italy's most successful team Juventus with relegation to Italy's second-tier Serie B along with Fiorentina and Lazio.

The fourth club involved, AC Milan, owned by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, was also heavily penalised over Europe's biggest football scandal in decades, starting next season's Serie A campaign minus 15 points.

''Mighty Blow'', read the headline of top sports newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport.

''To Hell'', screamed a front page column in Italy's leading newspaper Corriere della Sera. It counted 120 hours from Italy's World Cup win to the moment when ''two generations of soccer establishment were wiped out''.

''I think the verdict was unjust, not all the elements that led to the investigations were properly considered,'' said Rome resident Fabrizio Caccamo.

Others praised the ruling, saying rough justice was needed to purge the sport of chronic corruption.

''I totally agree with the verdict. Everybody had to pay for what they did, even if Milan was more lucky than the other teams involved,'' said another fan Marco Rossi.

SCANDAL BANS The scandal broke in May with the publication of intercepted telephone conversations between a former Juventus official and Italian soccer authorities discussing refereeing appointments.

As well as the clubs, the tribunal barred a number of club officials from the game for varying periods.

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