Reggina had its 15-point penalty for its role in Italy's match-fixing scandal reduced to 11 on Tuesday by an independent arbitration board.
The Serie A team was docked the points in August by a soccer federation sports court for allegedly trying to have friendly referees assigned to its games. The reduction would lift the club one place off the bottom of the standings to 19th.
``Reggina didn't commit any unsportsmanlike activity ... But the team has accepted this challenge from the beginning of the season. We will see if we can get out of it unharmed,'' Reggina president Lillo Foti was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency.
Foti's 2{ year ban from soccer was upheld in the ruling.
The arbitration board also upheld the penalty against Serie B team Arezzo, in what is expected to be the final ruling on the match-fixing scandal. Arezzo had already had a nine-point penalty reduced to six by an appeals tribunal in August and stayed in last place in Serie B.
Arezzo finished seventh in Italy's second division last season and was penalized in August for allegedly seeking favours from referees.
``If this is the new sports justice, there is reason to be appalled. It is a disgrace,'' Arezzo president Piero Mancini told ANSA. ``Arezzo is the only club to pay heavily.''
The arbitration board set up by the Italian Olympic Committee ruled on the four other clubs involved in the scandal in October.
Juventus, which was stripped of its 2005 and 2006 Serie A titles, demoted to Serie B, and docked 17 points by a sports tribunal in July, had its penalty reduced to nine points. The Turin club is currently joint top of the second division.
Lazio's 11-point penalty in the top division was reduced to three points and Fiorentina had its 19-point penalty cut to 15.
AC Milan did not have its eight-point penalty reduced.
Lazio is fifth in Serie A, Fiorentina is 16th, and AC Milan 15th.
The sentences are expected to be the final decisions handed out by sports authorities in a scandal that began six months ago, with sentences that have undergone two revisions.
The Italian Soccer Federation on May 2 opened its investigation into phone wiretaps that suggested match fixing.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
