UEFA president Michel Platini on Wednesday warned that the career of any player convicted of match-fixing would be over, as Euro 2012 begins in the shadow of fresh illegal betting allegations in Italy. “They won’t play football again,” the former France captain told a news conference in Warsaw, where co-hosts Poland take on Greece in the Polish capital in the tournament’s first match on Friday. Italy has been rocked by fresh claims of illegal betting in the national game, which led to the arrests of several top players, including Lazio captain Stefano Maurio, and a dawn raid on the national team’s pre-Euro training camp near Florence. Platini, whose former club Juventus were relegated from Serie A after a previous scandal in 2006, was unequivocal about the penalty for guilty parties, describing as “shocking” the possibility that professional footballers could throw games.
