JAMES RICHARDS recalls when an unheralded Italian club punched above their weight…

THE Calciopoli scandal of 2006, which showed that directors from some of Italy’s top clubs had essentially fixed matches by requesting favourable referees, had disastrous results for Italian football’s reputation.
The clubs involved received punishments ranging from points deductions to enforced relegation.
However, amid all this turmoil, there was one club that had their football history changed forever in a positive way. Heralding from the unassuming Tuscan port town of Livorno, Livo...