Betting scandal, Fagioli: "So many humiliations, but I paid. Now I ask for respect"

Florence, 14 April 2025 - Nicolò Fagioli has said enough. The media pillory of these days has hurt. To him and not only. The telephone interceptions that have come out refer to the past and this is an aspect that cannot and must not be overlooked. A past with which the player has already come to terms at a sporting level.

Seven months of disqualification in addition to a long series of meetings to raise awareness among young people on the issue of gambling addiction. An illness. Of course, the criminal proceedings are ongoing. If he is convicted of committing some crime, he will pay, as is right. But today (after a lackluster performance yesterday against Parma) is the day of a clear and conscious stance. Below is the long letter published by Fagioli on his social channels. "I have paid my debt to justice. With a conviction and a sacrosanct disqualification, with continuous and justified humiliations, with the shame felt and with the risk of never getting up again. I have spoken about my serious illness in schools, to my family, to friends and to the press. The same press that often addresses the serious issues of my illness and how to deal with them, but that today puts me back in the pillory. Once again. I have borne the burden of having done something bad. Of having disappointed all the people who believed in me.

Nicolò Fagioli asks for respect. He has paid his debt to sports justice

By now it's certainly not news: without any victim mentality, I went through a dark period, I suffered from a bad pathology and this is absolutely not a justification. But seeing all this media frenzy now is making me relive those ghosts. No, this time all this is not fair. I made a mistake, I paid, without having hurt anyone except myself and the people around me. And like every person who makes a mistake and pays, I have every right to get up again. Everyone, even the person writing today, can fall and make mistakes. The important thing is to know how to recognize it and I believe that a man's strength lies in knowing how to get up again. I was 19 at the time of the events and gambling addiction had taken over me.. I regretted it, but life gave me a second chance and I would like to take it, having already paid everything I had to pay. I ask for respect now, after having faced a trial, received a just sentence. I apologize to all my colleagues, to all my friends who, because of my mistakes, find themselves, against their will, involved or named - even if only in a newspaper line - in this situation just for having helped me. And I thank Fiorentina, Juventus, my friends and my family, who have never stopped supporting me and helping me in a difficult moment. Even if I have certainly disappointed them. I will not return to the subject, now I just have to think about giving my best on the pitch". Alessandro Latini