Serie A footballer arrested in match-fixing investigation

Atalanta defender Andrea Masiello has been arrested today in connection with a match-fixing probe in Italy.

Masiello, who joined Atalanta last summer from Bari, has been charged with “criminal association and fraud”.

Eight other players from last season’s Bari squad are already under investigation, while two of Masiello’s friends were also arrested by police.

“This is just the first wave of arrests of an investigation that began in December 2010,” Bari’s prosecutor Antonio Laudati said in a press conference today.

“We have plenty of evidence in the form of payments in which results of certain games were altered.”

Investigators are reportedly focusing on Bari’s final nine fixtures in last season’s Serie A.

Bari were relegated to the second division last campaign.

Former Atalanta captain Cristiano Doni and ex-Lazio skipper Giuseppe Signori were among 46 people arrested last year in an inquiry named “Last Bet” carried out by Cremona prosecutors.