Simone Farina (born 18 April 1982) is a former

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a defender. He went on to work for Aston Villa as a Community Coach and Head of Sports Integrity following his role as a whistleblower in the 2011–12 Italian football match-fixing scandal. He has gone on to work in an ambassadorial role with young players within Italy's

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

Career

Early career

Born in Rome and a fan of

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

,"Honour bound" ''

When Saturday Comes ''When Saturday Comes'' (''WSC'') is a monthly magazine about football, first published in London in 1986. "It aims to provide a voice for intelligent football supporters, offering both a serious and humorous view of the sport, covering all the ...

'', March 2012, Issue 301 Farina started his career at

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

and was a member of the Primavera U20 youth team in the 2000–01 season. In the 2001–02 season, he left for Catania on loan. He played twice for Catania in Serie C1 and won promotion playoffs with the Sicilian club.

Roma's False accounting scandal

On 28 June 2002, he was exchanged with Alessandro Sturba who only played twice in Series A, though both players were tagged for the nominal value of €2.4 million. Co-currently, Roma bought back Farina's 50% registration rights ( co-ownership deal) for €1.2M. Roma also made similar deals with other clubs before the end of fiscal year on 30 June 2002, and created a "profit" of €55million by selling their youth players. In 2004, Roma was investigated and was fined €60,000 on 30 October 2007 by the Criminal Court of Rome for irregular transferring of youth players.

Cittadella

At Cittadella, Farina only played 17 times in two seasons with the club in Serie C1. In June 2004, Roma gave up the remaining rights for free (which the nominal value was €1.2M).

Serie C2 clubs and Gubbio

Farina then left for Serie C2 club Gualdo. After the club went bankrupt, he joined Celano also in Serie C2. In June 2007, he signed a 1-year contract with Serie C2 club

Gubbio Gubbio () is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennines. History The city's origins are very ancient. ...

. With Gubbio he won two promotions, and reached out his career peak by playing in the

2011–12 Serie B The 2011–12 Serie B (known as the Serie bwin for sponsorship reasons) was the eightieth season since its establishment in 1929. A total of 22 teams will contest the league: 15 of which returning from the 2010–11 season, four of which promot ...

with his club.

2011 Italian football scandal

He became famous during the

2011 Italian football scandal Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *'' ...

when he was approached and offered €200,000 by Alessandro Zamperini, a former teammate at

, to influence the outcome of an Italian Cup match between Cesena and Gubbio on 30 November. The player refused and reported the incident to the police, resulting in the arrest of 17 people the following month. Following this, the

Italian national team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

manager Cesare Prandelli invited him to train with the national team for three days as a prize for his honesty. For the same reason, he received an award from Sepp Blatter during the

2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or The 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala was the second year for FIFA's awards for the top football players and coaches of the year. The awards were given out in Zürich on 9 January 2012, with Lionel Messi claiming the title of world player of the year for ...

ceremony.

Retirement as a player and appointment by Aston Villa

Farina retired from football with Gubbio in 2012 Farina joined Aston Villa first as a community coach in September 2012 and subsequently as Head of Sports Integrity in September 2013. During this role in August 2014 Farina was named a FIFA Ambassador for fair play by Sepp Blatter, also working with the English FA to raise awareness of betting regulations among players.

Serie B

Farina later became an ambassador for

, having been appointed by Andrea Abodi in May 2015. He had already been a member of the Serie B ethics committee that convenes annually to allocate charitable funds.

References

External links

Profile at FIGC
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farina, Simone Italian footballers A.S. Roma players Catania S.S.D. players A.S. Cittadella players Association football defenders Footballers from Rome 1982 births Living people A.S. Gubbio 1910 players