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Italian third-tier football club Crotone will be under judicial administration for a year after police discovered "sufficient evidence" of extensive Mafia infiltration, prosecutors claimed on Tuesday.
Based in the southern Calabria region that is home to the dominant 'Ndrangheta Mafia, Crotone are placed at the seventh spot in Group C of the Serie C league with five points from four matches.
The 'Ndrangheta' is renowned for influencing local, regional and national politics and continues to be involved in several sectors of the legal economy.
According to estimates in 2013, the organisation's revenue reportedly reached a whopping €53 billion, accounting for approximately three per cent of Italy's GDP.
Crotone has faced relegation from the two divisions in the past eight years. The Calabria-based club played in the Serie A top-flight for two successive seasons between 2016 and 2018 and again in 2020-2021.
The decision taken on Tuesday means the football club will continue its sporting activities under the supervision of court-appointed administrators. The club is not under investigation.
"FC Crotone will actively collaborate with the judicial administrators appointed by the court to continue its activities in the best interests of the club, fans and sport in general," it said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Crotone maintained its innocence and said that the court decision "does not even remotely suggest complicity or connivance by the club, its shareholders, or its managers and collaborators."
The prosecutors' office in Catanzaro said in a statement that Crotone had been "subjected, over the last decade, directly or at least indirectly, to conditions of intimidation and subjugation by members of local 'Ndrangheta clans".
From the club's security and ticketing operations, the local mob had infiltrated various systems in the club. The judicial administration regime will aim to help steer its economic activities back onto a legal path, according to the prosecutors.
Mafia infiltration in Italian football, including the lucrative merchandising and ticketing, is not a new phenomenon, with investigations targeting hardline 'ultra' fan groups at premier clubs Inter and AC Milan. including the lucrative merchandising and ticketing businesses.
(With Inputs from REUTERS)
