Story highlights
Former AC Milan and Italy star Gennaro Gattuso investigated in match fixing probe
Four individuals arrested in same investigation by Italian prosecutors
Gattuso won two Serie A titles and two Champions League crowns at AC Milan
The 35-year-old was also part of Italy's 2006 World Cup winning squad
He won the World Cup with Italy in 2006 – now Gennaro Gattuso is being investigated on match fixing charges.
The 35-year-old was an integral part of Marcelo Lippi’s squad, playing all 180 minutes of the final against France, which Italy eventually won on penalties.
But on Tuesday he was named in a statement on the official website of the Italian Football Federation that provided an update into an ongoing match fixing investigation by prosecutors in Cremona.
It said that four men had been arrested over matches that were allegedly fixed in Italy’s top tier three seasons ago.
Read: Europa League games involved in fixing case
Gattuso, as well as another former AC Milan star, Cristian Brocchi, who also played for Inter and Lazio, were not detained but had their homes raided as part of the probe which is focused on games in the 2010-11 season.
The combative midfielder spent 13 years at Milan, winning two European Champions League titles, two Serie A crowns and the FIFA Club World Cup in 2007.
He was also part of the victorious Italy squad that won the 2006 World Cup in Germany, defeating France on penalties in the final.
Gattuso turned to management after his playing career ended, taking charge at Swiss club Sion before he was relieved of his duties.
His next appointment saw him take the reins at Palermo prior to the start of the current league season in Italy but he was sacked after winning just two games and replaced by Giuseppe Iachini.
These allegations are the latest in a long line of stories that have plagued Italian football over recent years as prosecutors continue their probe into illegal betting and match fixing.
Juventus manager Antonio Conte was handed with a 10-month suspension, later reduced to four, for failing to report match fixing while in charge of Siena, who then played in the Italian second tier.
Former Lazio and Italy striker Giuseppe Signori was banned for five years while Stefano Mauri, and ex-Atalanta captain Cristiano Doni have also served suspensions.
Back in 2005 the Calciopoli scandal resulted in Juventus being stripped of their 2005 and 2006 Serie A titles as well as being demoted to Serie B, Italy’s second league.
Read: Seven held in UK fixing probe
Elsewhere, earlier this month 11 men in Estonia were charged with fixing 17 matches, including three in the Europa League – Europe’s second-tier competition – to the tune of 108,000 euros ($146,730).
In November, seven arrests were made in the United Kingdom as part of an ongoing investigation into match fixing in English professional football’s lower levels.
An investigation by British newspaper The Daily Telegraph said one of the arrested individuals claimed that matches could be fixed for ￡50,000 ($81,500) and correctly forecast the outcome of three games played by the same team.