updated 7:39 a.m. ET Nov. 9, 2011
ROME - Former Juventus executive Luciano Moggi is planning to appeal his prison sentence of five years and four months for his role in the 2006 Italian match-fixing scandal.
The prosecutors have won "only the first round," Moggi told Italy's Sky TV on Wednesday.
"The sentence was written (beforehand)," Moggi added. "There will be an appeal and I'm definitely not losing courage because I'm sure that I didn't do anything."
Moggi was found guilty by a Naples court Tuesday of criminal association aimed at committing sports fraud.
The scandal ? the biggest corruption case in the history of Italian soccer ? left Juventus stripped of the 2005 and 2006 Serie A titles and relegated to Serie B by a sports court.
Three other top clubs ? AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina ? were also penalized, as were Reggina and Arezzo.
Moggi also took issue with a Juventus statement issued after Tuesday's verdict, which sought to distance the club from his actions.
"It makes it seem like I acted alone. But that certainly wasn't the case," Moggi said.
Another former Juventus executive, Antonio Giraudo, had already received a three-year sentence in a fast-track trial and is waiting for his appeal to be heard.
Former referee selectors Paolo Bergamo and Pierluigi Pairetto, former Italian soccer federation vice president Innocenzo Mazzini and former referee Massimo De Santis were also given lengthy sentences by the Naples court Tuesday.
In addition, shorter sentences were handed out to Fiorentina owners Andrea and Diego Della Valle and Lazio president Claudio Lotito, as well as former AC Milan executive Leonardo Meani.
In all, 16 people were found guilty and eight were cleared, although Moggi and the others were not expected to be ordered to prison before their appeals process runs out.
Moggi and Giraudo were banned from soccer for life by a sports court earlier this year for influencing the outcome of matches.
At the heart of the scandal were allegations that Moggi and Giraudo created a network of contacts with federation officials to influence refereeing assignments and arrange for key players in other teams to be booked ahead of matches with Juventus.
"Juventus won because it was the best (squad)," Moggi said.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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